Life

Wynne was the son of William Wynne

William Wynne (lawyer)

-Life:Wynne, the youngest son of the Welsh civil servant Owen Wynne, was baptised at St. Margaret's, Westminster in 1692. His father, who served as secretary to Sir Leoline Jenkins and succeeding Secretaries of State, died in 1700. William Wynne was educated at Jesus College, Oxford,...

, sergeant-at-law, and was baptized at St Clement Danes

St Clement Danes

St Clement Danes is a church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. The current building was completed in 1682 by Sir Christopher Wren and it now functions as the central church of the Royal Air Force.The church is sometimes claimed to...

, London on 25 February 1734. He was admitted as a member of the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in 1749 (being called to the bar in 1758). He matriculated

Matriculation

Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...

 at Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

 in 1753, but left the college without taking a degree. His wealth meant that he did not need to work actively as a lawyer. On his father's death in 1765, he inherited the estate of Little Chelsea in Kensington

Kensington

Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

, London; he also owned the manor of Polsew at St Erme

St Erme

St Erme is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. The parish of St Erme, has a population of approximately 1200...

, near Truro

Truro

Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...

 in Cornwall. On his mother's death in 1779, he inherited property in Somerset. He owned a house in Essex Street, London, as well as property in Dudley

Dudley

Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

 and Wales. His inheritance also included his father's library, which contained the collections of Narcissus Luttrell

Narcissus Luttrell

Narcissus Luttrell was an English historian, diarist, and bibliographer, and briefly Member of Parliament for two different Cornish towns...

. Wynne had a library of almost 2,800 volumes, including many books on English law and Roman law

Roman law

Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...

. In 1765, he published A Miscellany Containing Several Law Tracts, which included some of Wynne's own works and one of his father's works (Observations Touching the Antiquity and Dignity of the Degree of Serjeant at Law). His most important work was Eunomus, or, Dialogues Concerning the Law and Constitution of England (1768), an attempt to explain English legal principles and defend it against charges that it was only interesting to lawyers. It also attempt to refute criticism of cost and delay in the legal process. It reached its fifth edition in 1822, although it was overshadowed by William Blackstone

William Blackstone

Sir William Blackstone KC SL was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke...

's Commentaries on the Laws of England

Commentaries on the Laws of England

The Commentaries on the Laws of England are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765–1769...

.

Wynne, who never married, died of cancer of the mouth on 27 December 1784. He was buried in Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

, in the same grave as his parents. His property was divided between his sister and his brother, who was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford

All Souls College, Oxford

The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....

. His library was auctioned after his death in a sale that lasted eleven days.