Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet (23 September 1749 – 24 July 1789) was a Welsh

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...

 politician and patron of the arts.

Sir Watkin was the eldest son of the second marriage of his father, Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 3rd Baronet, to Frances Shackerley of Cheshire. He was a baby when his father was killed by a fall from his horse while out hunting, and inherited the extensive Wynnstay

Wynnstay

Wynnstay was a famous estate in Wales, the family seat of the Wynns. It is located at Ruabon, near Wrexham.During the 17th century, Sir John Wynn, 5th Baronet inherited the Watstay Estate through his marriage to Jane Evans , and renamed it the Wynnstay Estate...

 estates. On his coming of age in 1770, he held an extravagant party for 15,000 guests. An embroidered suit which he may have worn on this occasion is in the possession of the National Museum of Wales.

He was 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,...

 (MP) for Shropshire

Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Shropshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights...

 from 1772 to 1774, and for Denbighshire

Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Denbighshire was a county constituency in Denbighshire, in north Wales, from 1542 to 1885.- History :From 1542, it returned one Member of Parliament , traditionally known as the knight of the shire, to the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, then to the Parliament of Great...

 from 1774 to 1789. He was Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire

Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire

This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire. After 1762, all Lord Lieutenants were also Custos Rotulorum of Merionethshire...

 from 1775-1789. He was a great patron of the arts, and numbered George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

 and David Garrick

David Garrick

David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...

 among his friends.

He was married twice, first to Henrietta Somerset, who died shortly afterwards, and in December 1771 to Charlotte Grenville, daughter of George Grenville

George Grenville

George Grenville was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham...

. He had three sons and two daughters from this second marriage. Sir Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...

 painted a portrait of him with his first wife in theatrical costume, and another of his second wife with her children, in around 1778.

He commissioned Robert Adam

Robert Adam

Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...

 to build 20-21 St James's Square in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

which was constructed between 1771 and 1775.