KYNASTON POWELL, Sir John, 1st bt. (1753-1822), of Hardwick Hall, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009
Available from Cambridge University Press

Constituency

Dates

1784 - 24 Oct. 1822

Family and Education

b. 5 Feb. 1753, 1st s. of Roger Kynaston of Shrewsbury and Mary, da. of Henry Powell of Worthen. educ. Pembroke, Oxf. 1770; All Souls, Oxf. by 1777. m. 19 Feb. 1778, Mary Elizabeth, da. of John Corbet of Sundorne, s.p. suc. fa. 1788; uncle John Powell to Worthen and took additional name of Powell 11 Feb. 1797; cr. bt. 3 Oct. 1818. d. 24 Oct. 1822.

Offices Held

Mayor, Oswestry 1783, steward 1796-d.

Lt.-col. Salop militia 1769, col. (West and North) 1797; brevet col. 1797; col. Salop vols. 1803.

Biography

Kynaston Powell, an anti-Catholic Tory whose parliamentary attendance was never more than sporadic, had represented his native Shropshire without interruption since 1784. He was a descendant of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, king of Powys, and had developed the ambition of securing the revival in his favour of the barony of Grey de Powis, last applied for by John Kynaston† in 1731.1 He had been consoled in December 1818 with a baronetcy with reversion, as he was childless, to his brother the Rev. Edward Kynaston, rector of Risby and Fornham, Suffolk, and his heirs, and was returned unopposed in 1820.2 He had rarely spoken in debate and no speeches by him were reported during that Parliament. He was a signatory to Shopshire’s loyal address to the king in January 1821,3 and voted in defence of the Liverpool ministry’s conduct towards Queen Caroline, 6 Feb., and against Catholic relief, 28 Feb. 1821. He died at Hardwick in October 1822, remembered for his integrity and urbanity.4 His brother succeeded to the baronetcy and entailed estates as planned and, by his will, dated 10 Mar. 1798 and proved under £7,000, he left everything else to his wife. The baronetcy was extinguished on the death in 1866 of the 3rd baronet, his nephew the Rev. Sir John Roger Kynaston, whose sister and heir Amy Kynaston (d. 1868) devised the family estates to the descendants of her maternal grandfather, Robert Owen of Shrewsbury and Dublin, who assumed the name of Kynaston.5

Ref Volumes: 1820-1832

Authors: Margaret Escott / Robin Healey

Notes

  • 1. HP Commons, 1715-54, ii. 195; HP Commons, 1790-1820, iv. 350.
  • 2. Shrewsbury Chron. 10, 17 Mar.; Salopian Jnl. 15 Mar. 1820; NLW, Aston Hall mss C.460, 461.
  • 3. Salopian Jnl. 25 Jan. 1821.
  • 4. Gent. Mag. (1822), ii. 471.
  • 5. The Times, 2 Nov. 1822; PROB 11/1669/234; IR26/970/334.