Henry Penruddocke Wyndham (1736–1819) MP JP FSA FRS, was a British Whig

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

, topographer and author.

Background

Wyndham was born on 4 June 1736, the eldest surviving son of Henry Wyndham of St Edmund's College, Salisbury, and his wife Arundel Penruddocke, daughter of Thomas Penruddocke of

Compton Chamberlayne Compton Chamberlayne is a small village and civil parish in the Nadder Valley in south Wiltshire, England, about west of Salisbury. The Nadder forms the northern boundary of the parish; to the south are chalk hills. It is bisected by the A30 r ...

. Colonel Wadham Wyndham was his younger brother and the distinguished judge Sir Wadham Wyndham was his great-great-grandfather. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, and was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 6 February 1777 and a

fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

on 9 January 1783.

Politics

The Wyndhams of the College held great influence in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

, and Wyndham was elected a freeman of the city on 15 March 1761, was

Mayor of Salisbury The following were mayors of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England: 15th–16th centuries *1387: John Hethe, MP for Salisbury, 1388 *1388,1391: John Moner, MP for Salisbury, 1397 *1395–1397: Richard Spencer, 4 times MP for Salisbury, 1395–1411 ...

in 1770–1, and

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...

in 1772. In 1794 he commanded a troop of cavalry raised in Salisbury. In 1795 he was elected

(MP) for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. He sat as a Whig in the family tradition until 1812, but rarely attended Parliament. The Whig statesman,

William Windham William Windham (4 June 1810) of Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, was a British Whig statesman. Elected to Parliament in 1784, Windham was attached to the remnants of the Rockinghamite faction of Whigs, whose members included his friends Charles J ...

and

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

William Wyndham Grenville William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, (25 October 175912 January 1834) was a British Pittite Tory politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807, but was a supporter of the Whigs for the duration of ...

, 1st Baron Grenville, were his third cousins.

Publications

By inclination he was more of a topographer than a politician. In 1774 he visited

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and in the following year he published anonymously ''A Gentleman's Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales''. He revisited the area in 1777, and in 1781 published his ''Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales'', declaring authorship of the work. He was accompanied on his journey of 1777 by the Swiss watercolourist

Samuel Hieronymus Grimm Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (18 January 1733 – 14 April 1794)''The Gentleman's Magazine, 1794, p399 was an 18th-century Swiss landscape artist who worked in oils (until 1764), watercolours, and pen and ink media. Grimm specialised in documenting h ...

, whose works illustrated the account. He was keen to produce a county history of

and published ''Wiltshire, Extracted from the Domesday Book'' with a translation of the Latin into English in 1788 which he hoped might stimulate such a work. His most celebrated publication remains his ''Diary of the Late

George Bubb Dodington George Bubb Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe (1691 – 28 July 1762) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1761. Christened George Bubb, he was the eldest son of Jeremiah Bubb of Foy, Herefordshire and his wife ...

'' in 1784, a rich source of information about politics in the first half of the 18th century.

Friendship with Turner

Like his cousin

George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

, Pen Wyndham was an admirer of the painter

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

who stayed with him at the College on several occasions in the late 18th century. Two paintings of the College landscape made by Turner during his visits of 1798 and c1800 are now preserved in the British Museum.

Family life

He married Caroline, daughter and heir of Edmund Hearst, on 18 October 1768 and they had five sons and two daughters. He died on 3 May 1819 and was buried in the Wyndham family vault in St Edmund's Church, Salisbury. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Wadham Wyndham, MP for Salisbury. His sister, Laetitia, married

Sir William à Court, 1st Baronet Sir William Pierce Ashe à Court, 1st Baronet (c. 1747 – 22 July 1817) was a British soldier and Member of Parliament (MP). À Court was the son of General William Ashe-à Court and Anne Vernon. He represented Heytesbury in the House of Commo ...

References

* Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004. * Wyndham, the Hon H A, "A Family History, The Wyndhams of Somerset, Sussex and Wiltshire", 1950.

External links

Holmes à Court Family Website.Victoria County History.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyndham, Henry Penr 1736 births 1819 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Wiltshire British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Wiltshire UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Society High Sheriffs of Wiltshire Mayors of Salisbury

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...