Powys (surname)

Powys is a Welsh surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• John Cowper Powys, writer, lecturer and philosopher
• Littleton Powys, judge (1647-1732)
• Llewelyn Powys, essayist, brother of John Cowper, Philippa and T.F.
• Philippa Powys, novelist and poet, sister of John Cowper, Llewelyn and T.F.
• T. F. Powys, writer
• Thomas Powys (judge), 1649-1719
• Betsan Powys, political journalist and editor for BBC Wales

Of the five people above, the first four are descended from the same family that was clearly found in Ludlow, Shropshire in the sixteenth century. There is evidence, but not strong, from the seventeenth century that the Ludlow Powyses came from Cockshot, also in Shropshire, see the unpublished 1662/3 Visitation of Shropshire in the College of Arms. The Cockshot Powyses (and Powis and Powes, etc.) are to be found in public records from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, see charters in Shropshire Record Office. There are other families of Powis who also are probably descended from this Cockshot outpost. While it is attractive to see all these Powys/Powis/Powes as descended from Wales, there is as yet no clear evidence to support this.

The fifth Powys in the above list is not to be found in any birth index from the England and Wales General Record Office with that name nor in any marriage index. So nothing can be said about that Powys ancestry.