The National Library of Wales :: Dictionary of Welsh Biography

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MATHEW family, of Llandaff , Radyr , and Castell y Mynach — all in Glamorgan . This family had held posts as stewards and seneschals during the 14th cent , for absent English lords . It was of the same stock as Lewis of Van (q.v.) , and derived according to 15th cent. pedigrees from Gwaethvoed of Ceredigion . Sir DAVID MATHEW ( fl. 1428-84 ), the son of a supporter of Owain Glyn Dŵr , was a dependent of the Nevilles and a leading Yorkist . From Sir David and his wife Wenllian Herbert descended the lines of Llandaff and Radyr frequently connected by inter-marriage. The influence of the stock developed after Bosworth under the protection of Sir Rhys ap Thomas (q.v.) , who m. Janet Mathew . It declined after the death, in 1557 , of Sir GEORGE MATHEW of Radyr , M.P. , and sheriff .

Other considerable figures in the political life of Glamorgan were the brothers Sir DAVID MATHEW of S. Fagans (d. 1504 ), and Sir WILLIAM MATHEW of Radyr (d. 1528 ) and his cousin Sir CHRISTOPHER MATHEW (d. 1527 ), Llandaff [whose grand-daughter m. the poet Meurig Dafydd , q.v. ]. Recumbent effigies of the two last-named and their wives as also of their grandfather, the first, Sir David Mathew , survive in Llandaff Cathedral . The later Llandaff line, which adopted the spelling Mathews in the mid-seventeenth cent. , produced one notable figure, THOMAS MATHEWS ( 1676 - 1751 ), of Llandaff Court , vice-admiral of the Red , commander-in-chief at the battle of Toulon in 1744 , and Member of Parliament for Glamorgan , 1745-7 . This branch became extinct on the death of his grandson in 1798 .

In contrast to the Llandaff branch, which was quietly Royalist and later Whig , the Radyr branch was always politically and sometimes actively Roman Catholic . THEOBALD MATHEW (d. 1699 ), son of George Mathew of Radyr (d. 1636 ) by his wife Elizabeth , viscountess Thurles , was granted the manor of Thurles by his half-brother, the first duke of Ormonde . His descendants held the manor of Llandaff and both Welsh and Irish properties. In 1783 FRANCIS MATHEW , fourth in descent from Theobald of Radyr , became lord Llandaff in the peerage of Ireland . He d. at Swansea in 1806 having been created earl of Llandaff in 1797 . His son, FRACIS MATHEW , second and last earl of Llandaff (d. 1833 ), sold the Welsh estates to Sir Samuel Romilly in 1818 . Fr. THEOBALD MATHEW , the Temperance reformer (d. 1856 ), son of James Mathew (agent to his cousin lord Llandaff ), was fifth in descent from Theobald Mathew of Radyr . He was uncle to Sir JAMES MATHEW , lord Justice of Appeal (d. 1908 ). HENRY MATTHEWS ( 1826 - 1913 ), Q.C. , Conservative home secretary , 1886-92 , came of a Tory county family connected with the Radyr line and settled at Belmont , near Hereford . He was created viscount Llandaff in 1895 .

The family of Castell y Mynach in Pentyrch was founded by Sir David Mathew 's brother, ROBERT MATHEW . They were conservative squires who obtained, by marriage, the estates of David Jenkins of Hensol (q.v.) . The line ended with CECIL MATHEW who m. (in 1708 ), Charles , first lord Talbot of Hensol , the lord chancellor . From this branch came TOBIE MATHEW ( 1546 - 1628 ), bishop of Durham in 1595 and archbishop of York in 1606 , and his son Sir TOBIE MATHEW ( 1577 - 1655 ), courtier and translator of S. Augustine 's Confessions .

Bibliography:

G. T. Clark , , 1-37;

(ed. J. Hobson Matthews ), especially vols. iii-iv;

, by Rice Merrick (ed. J. A. Corbett );

, by John Leland (ed. L. Toulmin Smith ), 19, 21, 26;

;

Among manuscripts in the National Library of Wales cf. ;

original correspondence 1564-1600 for letters to and from William Mathew of Radyr between 1575 and 1584;

, boxes 63, 126, and 132 mainly for the Llandaff branch;

, 471, 473, 476 479, 651.

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Corrections and additions:

MATHEW (FAMILY; DWB , 618). Recent research into the history of the family descended from Sir David Mathew of Llandaff and his grandson Sir William Mathew of Radyr reveals that since the Irish Mathew line became extinct with the death of Francis James Mathew , 2nd Earl of Llandaff in 1833 (his sister Lady Elizabeth died in 1842 ), the Welsh branch alone survives.
The descent is through William Mathew of Whitchurch , son of Edmund Mathew of Radyr , High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1592 and younger brother of the George who founded the Irish family. William is stated to have been Mayor of Cardiff in 1644 and succeeded Sir Anthony Mansell as Governor of the garrison in Cardiff Castle for King Charles I . His son Capt. Thomas Mathew served with their kinsman Sir Edward Stradling under Prince Rupert and in 1648 was taken prisoner after the Battle of St. Fagans . He was one of the eleven officers sent on board the Admiral Crowther to await execution. Three of the officers were shot out of hand but Mathew escaped with others and rode to Pembroke Castle which was still held by the Royalists .

In 1818 when the family estates were disentailed and sold by Francis James Mathew , 2nd Earl of Llandaff , a small portion of Llandaff Manor was purchased by Captain Thomas 's great-grandson, Anthony Mathew of Tŷ Mawr , Whitchurch .

The ancient arms of the family, recorded at the 1530 Heraldic Visitation of Wales for Sir William Mathew of Radyr , are now borne by Hugh Pawley Mathew of Thunderley Hall , Saffron Waldon , Essex , twelfth in descent from Sir William . [See M.P. Siddons , The development of Welsh heraldry , II ( 1993 ), 371].

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