Oswestry, although not the birth-place of many distinguished men, has amongst its present population some “choice spirits,” men born not, perhaps, to wield “the fierce democracy,” or to attract the nation’s glare by the display of brilliant talents, yet who possess the happy art of imparting sterling benefits to their fellow-men, and scattering blessings all around them. We could point to gentlemen, still honourably connected with the borough, whose good names must be well-deserved, because they have been earned among their fellow-citizens. The borough has nevertheless extended education to several eminent characters, and been the chosen residence of many others. The names of Kenyon, Charles W. W. Wynn, West, Parker, Longueville, Lloyd, Donne, and Dovaston, are still cherished with grateful recollections, their talents and labours having been ably exercised for the social benefit and intellectual advancement of the town.
We subjoin a few sketches of worthies that did the “State some service,” and whose connection with Oswestry claims for them a notice in these pages:—
Dr. Thomas Bray, an eminently pious and learned divine of the 17th century, was educated in Oswestry. He was afterwards entered of Hart Hall, Oxford, took his degree of Master of Arts there, was chosen by Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, to model the infant church at Maryland, and afterwards took the degree of Doctor in Divinity. He returned from Maryland, after a long and useful residence there, and rendered immense service to the cause of foreign missions, by his numerous publications and remarkable personal exertions. He closed a useful life in 1730, having reached the age of seventy-three years. He was born at Marton, in Salop.
John Freeman Milward Dovaston, M.A.—The death of this sweet poet, accomplished musician, and profound naturalist, occurred in August, 1854. Mr. Dovaston was not a native of Oswestry, but his birth-place (Westfelton) being so near to the borough, and his social connexion with it so constant and intimate during the whole of his life, that he may fairly be ranked among the celebrities of the town. He was the only son of John Dovaston, Esq., of “The Nursery,” at Westfelton, a man also of great natural talents, and who was distinguished for his science, learning and ingenuity. The subject of our present notice was educated for the Bar, but having a dislike for the profession, and possessing an ample property left by his father, he preferred a life of literary leisure, amid the charming scenery in his neighbourhood, to the wordy war and the feverish excitement of forensic ambition. In his sylvan retreat he sought amusement and instruction from the glories of nature so profusely scattered around him, and with the pure taste of the poet and philosopher, found
“Sermons in stones,
Tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
And good in every thing.”
In early life he published a volume entitled “Fitz-Gwarine and other poems,” to which he made considerable additions in later years. He also published an able discourse on Natural History, and contributed two lectures on Music and National Melody. He was the author of a most interesting sketch of Bewick, the clever wood-engraver, whom Mr. Dovaston styled “the celebrated xyographer and illustrator of nature;” wrote several prologues and epilogues to histrionic performances for charitable purposes; and employed his graceful pen so long as Providence gave him mental and bodily strength. For several years, however, he was confined to his bed, and died at the age of 72 years. His education was commenced at Oswestry Free Grammar School, to which Institution he reverts, in the pride of his manhood and the fervent inspiration of the poet; and subsequently he was removed to Shrewsbury School, where he remained for some years, under the able tuition of Dr. Butler, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield. Mr. Dovaston’s poetic genius led him almost entirely into the realms of nature. His ardent fancy revelled amid flowers and trees, murmuring rivulets and mountain torrents, or roamed among “boxen bowers” and greenwood shades, where no sounds are heard but the drowsy hum of bees, the joyous notes of the mavis or the lark, or the plaintive warblings of his “bonny robin.” His metrical romance of “Fitz-Gwarine” gives evidence of high descriptive power; and his Ballad, entitled “Bala Water,” will bear comparison with the best stanzas of Scott. His works will live in the district in which they were written, comprising as they do so many local allusions; but had his muse soared to loftier themes, he would, in all probability, have transmitted to posterity a name which the lovers of song throughout the land would have delighted to honour. Never having been married, he left a considerable property, which is now in the possession of his relation, John Dovaston, Esq.
Guto (y Glyn,) or Griffith, of Glyn, having been elected a burgess of Oswestry, is entitled from that distinction, as well as from his genius as a poet, to a brief notice. We have already quoted from his quaint description of Oswestry, but we shall now give it entire, as it was this production of his muse that procured for him the honour of enrolment as a burgess of the town. He was a native of Llangollen, and domestic bard to the Abbot of Llanegwestl, or Valle Crucis, near that town, to whom several of his poems are addressed. He is represented as witty and social, and was an acceptable guest at the halls of the Welsh nobility and gentry in his triennial visitations through the Principality. His gentle muse must have been more than ordinarily gracious when he poured forth such mellifluous strains as the following, in honour of Oswestry:—
“Oswestry is the liberal, the best endowed of cities;
The beloved of heaven that draws me to it.
Oswestry the strong fort of conquerors; the London of Powys;
Where the houses are well stored with wine, and the land is rich.
Its school is celebrated, and its city for preachers and men of science.
God is present in its beautiful temple—
A church adorned with rich chalices,
And with bells and a rich-toned organ.
No better choir is there from it to Canterbury:
None in which there is correcter singing,
Or the habilments more suitable.
To White Minster I know no convent superior.
The handsomest and best-dressed women are those of Oswestry.
It resembles Cheapside in merchandize,
And its people are honest and unanimous.
God’s grace be with the city, and those that dwell therein;
May God be its guardian and kind preserver.”
Humphrey Humphreys, D.D., an eminent prelate, born November 24th, 1648, was for some years placed at the Free School of Oswestry, under the care of his uncle, Humphrey Wynn, A.M., who was master of the school and vicar of the parish. Bishop Humphreys was an able Welsh antiquary, and wrote some memoirs of eminent Welshmen, in addition to those contained in Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses, printed in the last edition of that work, and in the first volume of the Cambrian Register. “He was a person of excellent virtues during the whole course of his life, and in his latter years of a piety so extraordinary, as has but few examples.”
Thomas Jones, son of John Williams, was born in Oswestry, and distinguished himself as an able defender of the Protestant faith. Having received his early education in his native town, he was entered at Jesus College, Oxford, at the commencement of the rebellion, but he left the University soon after, and returned when Oxford was surrendered to the Parliament, in 1646. He became Fellow of University College, by authority, of the parliamentary visitors, in 1648, and was remarkably zealous in the republican cause. He took the degree of M.A. in the year following, and in 1655 became rector of Castell Caerinion, in Montgomeryshire, where he acquired a knowledge of the Welsh language, to serve those parts where the orthodox clergy were rejected. His subsequent life was marked by strong zeal against papacy, and in an action for slander brought against him by Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchester, whom he charged as a promoter of popery, he was fined £300, and the rectory of Llandyrnog, to which he had been appointed, was sequestered for the payment of it. He continued this severe course of polemic warfare, and published several other works, amongst which, in 1682, “Elymas the Sorcerer; or a memorial towards the discovery of the bottom of this Popish Plot.” This effusion exposed him to much persecution, and would have subjected him to further punishment, had he not escaped by his decease, which occurred at Totteridge, Herts, in the same year.