Tasburgh History Society

Commander William Gwyn of Tasburgh Lodge

William Gwyn was born at Pensthorpe in 1797 into what was clearly a wealthy family. At the age of 19 he was appointed a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy but unlike the British army, the navy did not sell commissions so his appointment would have been on merit after a minimum of three years’ service as a midshipman. That means he would have been no older than 16 on joining and would have seen service towards the end of the Napoleonic War.

By1827however,asthenavyscaledbackitsoperations,hehadbeenplacedonthe reserve list on half-pay and was living in Bergh Apton. We know this because the Tasburgh manorial court records have an entry for his purchase that year of Elm Farm,nowTrampsHall,atthejunctionofFairsteadLanewiththeA140mainroadfor £2,260, equivalent to about £2 million in today’s terms, so clearly he was a man of considerable independent means rather than just a half-pay junior naval officer. The following year he bought Tasburgh Lodge, now Tasburgh Hall, with 170 acres of farmland without selling Elm Farm, and it is clear from the 19th century census returnsthatTasburghLodgewashishome.Abouttenyear’searlierhisolderbrother, Richard, had bought a 260 acre farm at Stratton St. Michael and was living in the three story house with its cedar trees on the way to Long Stratton, which may have been the reason why William came to live in Tasburgh.

He and Mary had at least twelve children, including nine daughters in succession sandwiched between three sons. An 1891 memorial in the church records that their second son, Hammond Wesson Gwyn, had been a General in the Royal Marines. In 1840 William Gwyn was appointed a Justice of the Peace and was one of the magistrates at the local court in Long Stratton. There is a report of one case in 1852 which involved an accusation by the Rev. Carter Moore, curate of Flordon, that he had been assaulted by the local postman, both of whom would probably have been knowntoMrGwyn,whowouldhavebeenawarethatthiswasnotthefirsttimethat theRev.Moorehad“beenatvariancewithsomeoneormoreofhisneighbours”.The Rev. Moore’s father, who was also a vicar, wrote to the court in support of his son, butMrGwyninreply“advisedhimtoremovehissonfromFlordon,assoonerorlater he would get himself into serious scraps”. This led to a degree of animosity on the part of the Flordon curate, and one evening as Mr Gwyn was leaving the train at Flordon Station, the Rev. Moore “cursed him and his family and all belonging to him in the most vehement manner”. Perhaps not surprisingly, Mr Moore had the curate arrested for contempt. He was committed to prison in Norwich castle, and the Bishop of Norwich deprived him of his licence.

By 1851 the census indicates that William Gwyn was by then farming 250 acres and employingsixmenandthreeboys.Asanavalofficerstillonthereservelist,hewould have received promotion by seniority and by 1871 was described as Commander Gwyn RN but in 1880 he died at Tasburgh Hall nd was buried in Stratton St Mary churchyard.

Ben Goodfellow