Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet
Encyclopedia
Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, 9th Baronet (22 September 1807 – 17 June 1874) was a Welsh
landowner and Conservative Party
politician. He is principally remembered as an assiduous antiquary
and student of British church architecture
. He was a brother-in-law
of the Liberal
Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone
.
and the family estates, including Hawarden Castle
in Flintshire
. His sister Catherine
married William Ewart Gladstone
, and Gladstone's father Sir John helped rescue Glynne from near bankruptcy after the failure of Oak Farm brick and iron works near Stourbridge
, of which Glynne was part-owner. He was able to resume occupancy of Hawarden only by selling part of the estate, and agreeing to share the castle with William and Catherine.
Glynne never married, and the baronetcy became extinct on his death. The Hawarden estate and castle was left to his nephew William Henry Gladstone
, the eldest son of William and Catherine.
(where his intellect and prodigious memory were remarked on), and at Christ Church, Oxford
(where, however, he was too indolent to flourish, and took a third class degree
in Classics).
He served as Member of Parliament
for Flint Boroughs
from 1832
to 1837
, and for Flintshire
from 1837 to 1841
and 1842 to 1847
. He was also High Sheriff of Flintshire
in 1831, and Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire
from 1845 to 1871. He sat in the Tory
interest, and, although he remained on excellent terms with Gladstone throughout his life, he shared few of Gladstone's Liberal ideals
. He was an extremely shy
individual who found public speaking an ordeal, and he never spoke in Parliament.
During the 1841 election campaign, Glynne found himself obliged to start libel proceedings against the Chester Chronicle
, for having published allegations of homosexuality against him: the newspaper was eventually forced to offer an apology.
Gladstone frequently consulted Glynne on ecclesiastical matters, including, for example the appointment of a Welsh-speaking bishop, Joshua Hughes
, to the diocese of St Asaph
in 1870.
; and he served as first president of the Cambrian Archaeological Association
. He helped edit one of the ecclesiologists' tracts, the Hand-Book of English Ecclesiology, published in 1847.
In the course of his life Glynne probably visited over 5500 churches (the precise figure is debated), making detailed notes on their architectural details and fittings. He spent several months of each year on this activity, using a variety of means of transport, including carriages, riding on horseback, sailing and walking. In keeping with the principles of the Ecclesiological Society and the Oxford Movement
, he approved of the Gothic
style of architecture, and was damning of 18th-century classicism, and of fittings such as box pews and galleries. His manuscript notes, dating from 1824 until a few days before his death, cover churches in England, Wales and the Channel Islands, and a few in Scotland and Ireland. Prior to 1840, they are generally undated: from that point onwards, he usually dated each visit precisely. He kept up to date with current trends in ecclesiology: thus, he used the stylistic classifications devised by Thomas Rickman
(Norman
, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular) until about 1842; then switched to the Ecclesiological Society's preferred terms (First Pointed, Middle Pointed, and Third Pointed) until 1851; but reverted to Rickman's terminology from 1852. His notes are greatly valued by architectural historian
s, as they frequently provide a brief but informed record of the buildings as they were before Victorian restorations and re-orderings. In many cases, Glynne revisited the churches on two or three occasions at several years remove, and so the notes also provide a record of changes over time.
Glynne's church notes, in 106 volumes, are now housed at Gladstone's Library (formerly St Deiniol's Library), Hawarden
; but are made available to researchers through Flintshire Record Office. Glynne generally made his notes on the right-hand pages of his notebooks, reserving the left-hand pages for later addenda and sketches. The original notes for Kent (which were published by W.H. Gladstone in 1877) are believed to be lost.
He also toured widely in Europe and Turkey, keeping detailed diaries, but here he showed far less insight, and his notes are considered to be of much less interest than his British material.
He collapsed and died outside Bishopsgate railway station
on 17 June 1874 after visiting churches in Essex and Suffolk.
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland and Westmorland
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
County Durham and Northumberland
Gloucestershire
Herefordshire
Kent
Lancashire
Shropshire
Somerset
Suffolk
Surrey
Wiltshire
Yorkshire
Wales 2 volumes. (A facsimile reprint of material first published as articles in Archaeologia Cambrensis
, 5th ser. vol. 1 - 6th ser. vol. 2, 1884-1902)
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
landowner and Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician. He is principally remembered as an assiduous antiquary
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
and student of British church architecture
Church architecture of England
Church architecture of England refers to the architecture of buildings of Christian churches in England. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs,...
. He was a brother-in-law
Brother-in-law
A brother-in-law is the brother of one's spouse, the husband of one's sibling, or the husband of one's spouse's sibling.-See also:*Affinity *Sister-in-law*Brothers in Law , a 1955 British comedy novel...
of the Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
.
Family
Glynne's father, the 8th Baronet died in 1815, aged 35, and at the age of seven Stephen inherited both the baronetcyGlynne Baronets
The Glynne Baronetcy, of Bisseter in the County of Oxford, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 20 May 1661 for William Glynne, the former Member of Parliament for Carnarvon. He was the son of Sir John Glynne, Lord Chief Justice during the Commonwealth. The second Baronet sat...
and the family estates, including Hawarden Castle
Hawarden Castle (18th century)
New Hawarden Castle, in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales was the estate of former British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, which previously belonged to the family of his wife, Catherine Glynne. It was built in 1752...
in Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
. His sister Catherine
Catherine Gladstone
Catherine Glynne Gladstone was the wife of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone for 59 years, until his death in 1898.-Family:...
married William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, and Gladstone's father Sir John helped rescue Glynne from near bankruptcy after the failure of Oak Farm brick and iron works near Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
, of which Glynne was part-owner. He was able to resume occupancy of Hawarden only by selling part of the estate, and agreeing to share the castle with William and Catherine.
Glynne never married, and the baronetcy became extinct on his death. The Hawarden estate and castle was left to his nephew William Henry Gladstone
William Henry Gladstone
William Henry Gladstone was a British Liberal Party Member of Parliament, and the eldest son of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his wife Catherine née Glynne....
, the eldest son of William and Catherine.
Career
Glynne was educated at EtonEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
(where his intellect and prodigious memory were remarked on), and at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
(where, however, he was too indolent to flourish, and took a third class degree
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
in Classics).
He served as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Flint Boroughs
Flint Boroughs (UK Parliament constituency)
Flint Boroughs was a parliamentary constituency in north-east Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors, from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1918 general election.-Boundaries:From its first known general...
from 1832
United Kingdom general election, 1832
-Seats summary:-Parties and leaders at the general election:The Earl Grey had been Prime Minister since 22 November 1830. His was the first predominantly Whig administration since the Ministry of all the Talents in 1806-1807....
to 1837
United Kingdom general election, 1837
The 1837 United Kingdom general election saw Robert Peel's Conservatives close further on the position of the Whigs, who won their fourth election of the decade....
, and for Flintshire
Flintshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Flintshire was a parliamentary constituency in North-East Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1542 until it was abolished for the 1950 general election.- Boundaries :...
from 1837 to 1841
United Kingdom general election, 1841
-Seats summary:-Whig MPs who lost their seats:*Viscount Morpeth - Chief Secretary for Ireland*Sir George Strickland, Bt*Sir Henry Barron, 1st Baronet-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987...
and 1842 to 1847
United Kingdom general election, 1847
-Seats summary:-References:* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher *...
. He was also High Sheriff of Flintshire
High Sheriff of Flintshire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Flintshire.The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere...
in 1831, and Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire
Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire. Since 1802, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Flintshire...
from 1845 to 1871. He sat in the Tory
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
interest, and, although he remained on excellent terms with Gladstone throughout his life, he shared few of Gladstone's Liberal ideals
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
. He was an extremely shy
Shyness
In humans, shyness is a social psychology term used to describe the feeling of apprehension, lack of comfort, or awkwardness experienced when a person is in proximity to, approaching, or being approached by other people, especially in new situations or with unfamiliar people...
individual who found public speaking an ordeal, and he never spoke in Parliament.
During the 1841 election campaign, Glynne found himself obliged to start libel proceedings against the Chester Chronicle
Chester Chronicle
The Chester Chronicle is a UK local weekly newspaper for the Chester and Cheshire area, first established in the 18th century. It is one of the UK's best-selling newspapers, published every Thursday.-Structure:It has a number of different editions:...
, for having published allegations of homosexuality against him: the newspaper was eventually forced to offer an apology.
Gladstone frequently consulted Glynne on ecclesiastical matters, including, for example the appointment of a Welsh-speaking bishop, Joshua Hughes
Joshua Hughes
Joshua Hughes was Bishop of St Asaph, an Anglican diocese in Wales, United Kingdom.Hughes was educated at Cardigan and Ystradmeurig grammar schools and at St David's College, Lampeter , where he was placed in the first class in the examinations every year and gained prizes for Latin and Welsh essays...
, to the diocese of St Asaph
St Asaph Cathedral
St Asaph Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in St Asaph, Denbighshire, north Wales. It is sometimes claimed to be the smallest Anglican cathedral in Britain.- History :...
in 1870.
Antiquarianism
Glynne's real interests were not in politics, but in music and, more particularly, in church architecture. He was a committee member, and later an honorary secretary, of the Ecclesiological SocietyCambridge Camden Society
The Cambridge Camden Society, later known as the Ecclesiological Society from 1845 when it moved to London, was a learned architectural society founded in 1839 by undergraduates at Cambridge University to promote "the study of Gothic Architecture, and of Ecclesiastical Antiques." Its activities...
; and he served as first president of the Cambrian Archaeological Association
Cambrian Archaeological Association
The Cambrian Archaeological Association was founded in 1846 to examine, preserve and illustrate the ancient monuments and remains of the history, language, manners, customs, arts and industries of Wales and the Welsh Marches and to educate the public in such matters.Its activities include holding...
. He helped edit one of the ecclesiologists' tracts, the Hand-Book of English Ecclesiology, published in 1847.
In the course of his life Glynne probably visited over 5500 churches (the precise figure is debated), making detailed notes on their architectural details and fittings. He spent several months of each year on this activity, using a variety of means of transport, including carriages, riding on horseback, sailing and walking. In keeping with the principles of the Ecclesiological Society and the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
, he approved of the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style of architecture, and was damning of 18th-century classicism, and of fittings such as box pews and galleries. His manuscript notes, dating from 1824 until a few days before his death, cover churches in England, Wales and the Channel Islands, and a few in Scotland and Ireland. Prior to 1840, they are generally undated: from that point onwards, he usually dated each visit precisely. He kept up to date with current trends in ecclesiology: thus, he used the stylistic classifications devised by Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman , was an English architect who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival.He was born at Maidenhead, Berkshire, into a large Quaker family, and avoided the medical career envisaged for him by his father, a grocer and druggist; he went into business for himself and married his first...
(Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular) until about 1842; then switched to the Ecclesiological Society's preferred terms (First Pointed, Middle Pointed, and Third Pointed) until 1851; but reverted to Rickman's terminology from 1852. His notes are greatly valued by architectural historian
Architectural historian
A architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it Similar profession are known widely such as Historian, Art historian and Archaeologist. Architectural historians survey areas that are often threatened by extinction...
s, as they frequently provide a brief but informed record of the buildings as they were before Victorian restorations and re-orderings. In many cases, Glynne revisited the churches on two or three occasions at several years remove, and so the notes also provide a record of changes over time.
Glynne's church notes, in 106 volumes, are now housed at Gladstone's Library (formerly St Deiniol's Library), Hawarden
Hawarden
Hawarden is a village in Flintshire, North Wales. Hawarden forms part of the Deeside conurbation on the Welsh/English border. At the 2001 Census, the population of Hawarden Ward was 1,858...
; but are made available to researchers through Flintshire Record Office. Glynne generally made his notes on the right-hand pages of his notebooks, reserving the left-hand pages for later addenda and sketches. The original notes for Kent (which were published by W.H. Gladstone in 1877) are believed to be lost.
He also toured widely in Europe and Turkey, keeping detailed diaries, but here he showed far less insight, and his notes are considered to be of much less interest than his British material.
He collapsed and died outside Bishopsgate railway station
Bishopsgate railway station
Bishopsgate station was a railway station located on the eastern side of Shoreditch High Street in the modern London Borough of Tower Hamlets; the western edge of the East End. It was in use from 1840 to 1964 when it was destroyed by fire...
on 17 June 1874 after visiting churches in Essex and Suffolk.
Editions
Glynne's church notes remained unpublished during his lifetime, but since his death a growing number have appeared in print, mainly arranged by county. Editions include the following:Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumberland and Westmorland
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
County Durham and Northumberland
Gloucestershire
Herefordshire
Kent
Lancashire
Shropshire
Somerset
Suffolk
Surrey
Wiltshire
Yorkshire
Wales 2 volumes. (A facsimile reprint of material first published as articles in Archaeologia Cambrensis
Archaeologia Cambrensis
Archaeologia Cambrensis is an archaeological and historical scholarly journal, published annually in Wales by the Cambrian Archaeological Association, containing excavation reports, book reviews, and historical essays...
, 5th ser. vol. 1 - 6th ser. vol. 2, 1884-1902)