Selwyn's elder brother died in 1751, and grief at his loss seems to
have hastened the death of his father, which occurred in the same
year.

His sister Albinia married Thomas Townshend, second son of Charles
Viscount Townshend. By this marriage the families of Selwyn and
Walpole were connected.

The home of the family was at Matson, a village two and a half miles
south-east of Gloucester, on the spurs of the Cotswold hills,
looking over the Severn valley--once called Mattesdone. There is a
good deal of obscurity as to the ownership of the manor in mediaeval
times, but it appears to have been in the possession of what may
popularly speaking be called the family of Mattesdone. The landowner
described himself by the place; "Ego Philippus de Mattesdone" are
the words of an ancient document preserved among the records of the
Monastery of St. Peter at Gloucester.*

* "Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestria,"
edited by W. Hart, vol. i. p. 100.

To come to more recent times, the manor house was built in 1594 by
Sir Ambrose Willoughby. From him the estate was purchased in 1597 by
Jasper Selwyn, Counsellor at Law, of Stonehouse, who was the fourth
in descent from John Selwyn, one of a Sussex family.

In 1751 the direct entail was broken by Colonel Selwyn, and the
property was re-entailed on the descendants of his daughter, Mrs.
Townshend, though it was left by will to George Selwyn for his life.
On his death it devolved on Thomas, Lord Sydney, and has since