A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Gwyn, William
GWYN. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 8; h-p., 31.)
William Gwyn, a gentleman of ancient Welsh extraction, is fourth and youngest son of the late Hamond Gwyn, Esq., by Frances, daughter of John Pigge, Esq.; and brother of the present Anthony Gwyn, Esq., of Baron’s Hall, Fakenham, co. Norfolk.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 Sept. 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., in the Racehorse 18, Capt. Wm. Fisher, with whom he served at the Cape of Good Hope and in the East Indies, part of the time as Midshipman of the Cornwallis 50, until Feb. 1811. He then returned home in the Barbadoes 28, Capt. Brian Hodgson, and, after a continued attachment of a short period to the same vessel off Cherbourg, where she was commanded by Capt. Edw. Kushworth, was employed, between Dec. 1811 and Aug. 1815, in the Niobe 38, Capts. John Wentworth Loring and Wm. Augustus Montagu, and Madagascar 36, Capts. Lucius Curtis and Bentinck Cavendish Doyle. In the latter ship, besides participating in other operations of the last American war, he attended the expeditions against Washington and Baltimore; and on one occasion he served in her boats with those of the Havannah at the capture, after a spirited action, of the Franklin American schooner of war. On 9 May, 1816, Mr. Gwyn, who, on leaving the Madagascar, had taken up a commission bearing date 6 March,|1815, joined the Dee 24, Capt. Sam. Chambers, on the Halifax station. He returned home in June, 1817, and has since been unemployed.
Lieut. Gwyn is a Magistrate for the county of Norfolk. He married Mary, daughter of Edw. Rudge, Esq., by whom he has issue five sons and seven daughters. One of the former, Hamond Weston Gwyn, Esq., First-Lieutenant R.M. (1845), is now serving on board the Trafalgar 120.