Life

Gunn was born on 7 April 1750 at Guildford, Surrey, the son of Alexander Gunn of Irstead

Irstead

Irstead is a village in The Broads National Park in the English county of Norfolk, England. The village is situated at Irstead Shoals, on the River Ant just south of Barton Broad, the second largest of the Norfolk Broads...

, Norfolk. He attended Fletcher's private school at Kingston-upon-Thames for six years. In 1784 he entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...

, as a sizar. He took holy orders, in 1784 became rector of Sloley, Norfolk, and in 1786 obtained the consolidated livings of Barton Turf

Barton Turf

Barton Turf is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some 20 km north-east of the city of Norwich, on the northwestern edge of Barton Broad, the second largest broad of the Norfolk Broads within The Broads National Park...

 and Irstead. The latter he resigned in 1829 in favour of John Gunn upon receiving the vicarage of Gorleston

Gorleston

Gorleston-On-Sea, also known colloquially as Gorleston, is a settlement in Norfolk in the United Kingdom, forming part of the larger town of Great Yarmouth. Situated at the mouth of the River Yare it was a port town at the time of the Domesday Book. The port then became a centre of fishing for...

, Suffolk.

In 1795 he obtained the degree of B.D.

Bachelor of Divinity

In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....

 as a 'ten-year man

Ten-year man

A ten-year man was a category of mature student at the University of Cambridge.Under the University's statutes of 1570, a man over twenty-four could proceed to a BD degree ten years after matriculation without first gaining a BA degree or a MA degree. The device was not used much until the...

'. During a residence in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 he obtained permission to search the Vatican

Vatican Library

The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...

 and other libraries for manuscripts relating to the history of England, and published anonymously, as the result of his research, in 1803, a collection of Extracts from sixteenth-century state papers. In the Vatican he discovered a tenth-century manuscript of the Historia Brittonum, commonly ascribed to Nennius

Nennius

Nennius was a Welsh monk of the 9th century.He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work, This attribution is widely considered a secondary tradition....

, which he printed in 1819 with an English version, facsimile of the original, notes, and illustrations (another edition of the translation only, with a few additions, was published by J. A. Giles in 1841). He died at Smallburgh

Smallburgh

Smallburgh is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is fourteen miles south-east of Cromer, fourteen miles north-east of Norwich and north-east of London. The village lies five miles south-east of the nearby town of North Walsham...

, Norfolk, on 11 April 1841.

Works

• (ed., anon.) Extracts, describing the ancient manner of placing the kingdom in military array : the various modes of defence adopted for its safety in periods of danger : and the evidence of foreigners as to the national character and personal bravery of the English : taken from original state papers of the sixteenth century collected on the continent, and hitherto inedited, 1803
• The "Historia Brittonum", commonly attributed to Nennius : from a manuscript lately discovered in the library of the Vatican Palace at Rome ; edited in the tenth century by Mark the Hermit ; with an English version, facsimile of the original, notes and illustrations by the Rev. W. Gunn, B. D. rector of Irstead, Norfolk, 1819.
• Inquiry into the Origin and Influence of Gothic Architecture, 8vo, London, 1819.
• Cartonensia; or, an Historical and Critical Account of the Tapestries in the Palace of the Vatican; copied from the designs of Raphael, etc. To which are subjoined Remarks on the Causes which retard the Progress of the higher Departments of the Art of Painting in this Country, 8vo, London, 1831 (2nd ed., 1832).