John Tudor ("Jack") Gwynn, CIE, ICS (13 November 1881 – 17 May 1956)
/ref> was an Irish-born British civil servant in India and cricketer.

Early life and cricket career

The seventh son of the Very Rev John Gwynn D.D. and Lucy Josephine O’Brien.''Burke's Irish Family Records'', 1976, he was born at Ramelton, County Donegal, while his father was Dean of Raphoe. Following in the footsteps of his elder brothers he was educated at St Columba's College, Rathfarnham and Trinity College, Dublin. Like the three brothers immediately preceding him,

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from '' Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames ('' praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from ...

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and Robin, he was an outstanding cricketer, and like them he in his turn captained first the St Columba's XI and then the Dublin University XI. He did not however go on to represent the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland particip ...

internationally. While working in the Indian Civil Service Jack Gwynn represented the "Europeans" in two first-class matches against the "Indians" in 1919 and 1920.

Indian Civil Service career

After graduating Jack Gwynn joined the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

. He started his first tour of duty in India in 1905. During a period of home leave Jack became engaged to Joan Sedding, a relative through marriage of his elder brother Lucius. Joan's father was the ecclesiastical architect John Sedding. Both of Joan's parents had died while Joan was in her infancy and she had been brought up by a maternal aunt and uncle, the Rawlinsons; her cousin Katharine, the one who had married Lucius Gwynn, was like an elder sister to her and probably had a hand in arranging the match. Jack and Joan's wedding took place in Colombo in 1912.Oral testimony, Edward Liddle, grandson of John Tudor Gwynn At the outbreak of the first World War Jack and Joan Gwynn were on home leave. Jack was retained in London and placed on special duty at the Admiralty. It was during this period in England that the couple's three children were born:

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(1916-1999), Rose (1918-2012) and Katharine (1920-2008). Jack Gwynn had to retire from the ICS in 1921 because of deafness. However he had no sooner retired than the Manchester Guardian newspaper head-hunted him and sent him back to India as their correspondent. He wrote a series of articles for the paper which, in 1924, were published in book form under the title ''Indian Politics''.''The Spectator'', 5 September 1924

Journalistic career

Gwynn was still working for the ''Guardian'' when he and his family moved to Dublin in 1926. Apart from a break when he covered the Round Table Conference in 1934 - he already knew

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and had a great admiration for him - he served as the Irish correspondent of the ''Guardian'' until 1936. He continued to review occasional books for the paper until a year or two before his death. In 1936 Jack Gwynn became the Headmaster of a boys’ preparatory school on the north side of Dublin, Baymount School, which he had bought from its founder William Scott. He and his wife ran the school successfully for a decade in spite of financial difficulties. Baymount School was closed down in 1948. A couple of years later Gwynn put the house and grounds up for sale. They were purchased by the Society of Jesus and subsequently converted into a Jesuit retreat named Manresa House. Jack and Joan Gwynn stayed for a while in Clontarf, near Baymount, before moving to live with their daughter and son-in-law, Katharine and Laurence Liddle, in Bangor, County Down in 1953. John Tudor Gwynn died in 1956 and Joan Gwynn in 1965. John Tudor Gwynn.jpg, Jack Gwynn as a young man, c.1901 D U XI 1903.jpg, The 1903 Dublin University Cricket team (plus opponents). Jack Gwynn, captain, seated centre beside W G Grace.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwynn, John 1881 births 1956 deaths Cricketers from County Donegal People from Ramelton Sportspeople from County Donegal Europeans cricketers Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Heads of schools in Ireland Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Irish people in colonial India