Mathew

of Thurles

This family is Welsh in origin, and there are records tracing it far back into the Dark Ages, but these records are questionable. They first appear in reliable records living at Castell-y-Mynach, near Llandaff. The manor is called Bryn-y-gynen, and the current house (above) is the residence of the Bishop of Llandaff. The Mathews were certainly descended from the ancient princes of Ceredigion and Gwent, but the exact connection is not attested. They first appear in reliable records living at Castell-y-Mynach, near Llandaff. The manor is called Bryn-y-gynen, and the current house (above) is the residence of the Bishop of Llandaff.

The earliest ancestor we can identify - with some uncertainty - was Cedrych, lord of Gwynfai in Cardigan, who lived at the time of the Norman Conquest and evidently collaborated with the invaders, because he was given the lordship of Ruthyn by William's lieutenants in south Wales. His son Aeddan, born about 1075, was Lord of Grosmont Castle, Monmouth, and married Anne Russell, daughter of Sir John Russell of Kentchurch. (this family is well attested; Kentchurch is in Herefordshire.) His son or grandson Gwilym was lord of Gwent in the first half of the twelfth century, and married Gwenllian ferch Hywel of Caerleon of the line of Rhydd ap Iestyn, born 1129 in Caerleon. Their son Ieuan, born 1155 in Ystrad, Glamorgan, Wales, was a crusader and a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. He married Anne ferch Meuric ap Maredudd of Ystrad. Their son Meuric was born about 1200 and married Eva ferch Ythel Gam ap Maredudd. Their son Ieuan, born 1225 in Ystrad, married Cecile Clark, born 1229 in Llandewi, Glamorgan, daughter and heir of Sir Robert Clark - but I cannot identify this family; they were not lords of Llandewi manor. Their son Caradoc, born 1250 in Llandewi, Glamorgan, Wales, married Alice Welsh, born about 1254 in Llandewi, daughter of Sir John Welsh (some sources call him Meuric). Their son Meuric, born about 1280 in Llandewi, Glamorgan, married Gwenllian ferch Madoc ap Gwilliam ap Owen ap Sir Girgenni ap Griffith ap Iestyn. (Her mother was a Turberville.) Their son Sir Madog, also a crusader, helped found the Knights Hospitaler of St John of Jerusalem. He married Wenllian ferch Griffith Goch from the line of Bach ap Gwaethfoed. Their son Sir Gruffydd Gethyn (born 1325) married Joan or Crisly ferch Rhun ap Gruffydd Grono of the line of Bleddwn ap Cynfun of Castle Kibwr in Glamorgan; he was a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and father of Sir Euan (born 1346) who attended Oriel College, Oxford and married Crisli ferch Gawdyn ap Llywelyn, a descendant of Rhodri Mawr. (In some sources she is Cecile, daughter and heiress of Aedan ap Gruffydd ap Cynfrigr.) They were the parents of Sir Mathew ap Euan, from whom the family takes its name.

Sir Mathew was born about 1368 at Castle Kibwr and died after 1419. His wife was Janet Fleming of Penelyne, Glamorgan, daughter and heir of Jenkin Fleming, called the Baron of Llandaff in many sources, but I do not think there was such a title. He is no doubt one of the Fleming family descended from Sir Richard le Fleming of Caernarvon Castle. One reliable source says he was Richard Fleming ap Ieuan Dafydd of Pant-y-Corred. Their eldest son Sir Dafydd (c1400-1484) was Edward IV's standard-bearer for a time during the Wars of the Roses, and was at Towton in 1461, where he is supposed to have saved the king's life (though he was over sixty). His lavish tomb can still be seen in the cathedral at Llandaff - the effigy is six feet seven inches, said to be his actual height. He married Gwenllian verch Dafydd ap Gwylym (see Herbert) and his wife Gwenllian verch Philip ap Llywellyn. His eldest son John was killed at the Battle of Towton, and the estates passed to the second son Rimron ap Mathew, ancestor of the line that eventually became Earls of Llandaff. The fourth son, Thomas Mathew (1438-1470) married Catherine, daughter and co-heiress of Morgan ap Llywellyn ap Ieuan Gethyn, lord of Radyr; and so the branch from which we are descended was known as "Mathew of Radyr" before they settled in Ireland. We know of eight children: (1) David (c1458, married Alice Bele); (2) Sir William Mathew, KB (c1460-1528, married first Janet ferch Henry of Llangathen (c1464-1500, in some sources called a daughter of Henry de Lacy and Joanna Martyn, but that couple lived two hundred years earlier, and were not Welsh; more likely she was daughter of Henry ap Gwylym of Llanlais and Court Henry in Llangathen, descended from Gronw Goch, Lord of Llangathen c1200), and second his widowed sister-in-law Alice Bele), (3-4) two sons who died as infants (1462 and 1464); (5) Janet (1468, married Thomas Stradling of St Donats, Glamorgan - the same family which produced our ancestor Gwenllian Stradling, mistress of Anthony Wydeville and great-great-great-great grandmother of Elizabeth Poyntz, below), (6) another son who died in 1468, (7) Morgan (c1470, married ? Howell); and (8) Margaret (c1472).

William and Janet Mathew were married about 1485 in Llandaff, and had at least two sons: (1) George (1486) and (2) Henry (1488). By Alice Bele, William also had a daughter, (3) Anne (1490). George married Barbara Brent (born c1503, of Cossington, Somerset) and he died on November 10, 1557 at Radyr. They had eleven children: (1) Arnold (c1527); (2) Jane (c1529); (3) William (1530); (4) Henry (1533); (5) George (1535); (6) Thomas (1539); (7) Edmund (see below); (8) Catherine (1545); (9) Florence (1549); (10) Janet (1551); and (11) Cecile (1553).

Edmund Mathew was born at Radyr in 1543 and died at Thurles Castle in Ireland, possibly in 1606, though some sources say 1660 - unlikely. He was a physician, a Sheriff of Glamorganshire, and custodian of the sacred relics of St Teilo at Llandaff. He married Jane Skerne (born 1561, of Long Ashton, Somerset; daughter of Bartholomew). His son is thought to be the one who sold the Radyr estate, presumably after his father's death, so it is not clear why Edmund would have died in Thurles. There were perhaps eleven children: (1) Jane (married William Phillips, ? Bierly, and her cousin Edmund Mathew); (2) Captain Anthony (two children) (3) Edward (married ? Crosby); (4) David (married Agnes Pawley); (5) Barbara (married ? Pilkington and Robert Herbert); (6) Elizabeth; (7) George, see below; (8) Katherine (married Anthony Powell and Daniel Lloyd); (9) William (married Elizabeth Powell); (10) Florence (married Nathaniel Jones); and (11) Frances.

Captain George Mathew (1581-1636) is called "of Thurles" because in 1620 he married as his second wife Elizabeth Poyntz, the widow of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles (by whom she was an ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II), and lived on her estates at Thurles in County Tipperary. They had four children: (1) Toby or Theobald (see below); (2) George Mathew of Reaghill and Thomastown (married Eleanor Butler, daughter of Edmond, Lord Dunboyne; one son, Toby, who married a daughter of Bartholomew Faulkes and had seven children, including Anne, wife of Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye); (3) Frances Mathew, a nun; and (4) Elizabeth Mathew, who married Edward Butler of Ballyragget; many descendants. George also had a first wife, a daughter of Sir John Domes; they had two children, William and Toby, both of whom died young; Toby is supposed to have drowned while in his teens.

Toby Mathew of Thurles and Annefield (not to be confused with his contemporary cousin, the famous courtier) married Margaret, daughter of Sir Valentine Browne (or possibly of Sir Thomas Browne of Hospital, a cousin) and with her had two children: (1) George (see below) and (2) Elizabeth (died 1704, married Pierce Butler, 4th Lord Caher, and Daniel McCarty of Carrignavar; children by both marriages). Toby married 2ndly Anne Saull and had three more children: (3) Thomas Mathew of Annefield (died 1714, married Honora Ryan, great-grandparents of the first Mathew Earl of Llandaff); (4) James Mathew, married Elizabeth Bourke; and (5) Mary, died unmarried in 1695. Toby's third wife was Catherine Neville (no children).

Toby Mathew's eldest son, George Mathew of Thurles, married (July 1677) Cecilia, daughter of Francis Arundel of Dyles in County Waterford. Their son (1) George left descendants. George married 2ndly (October 16, 1686) Mary Aldworth, widow of Sir Simon Eaton, Bart., and daughter of Richard Aldworth. Their children: (2) Justyn Mathew (1687-1725, unmarried), (3) a daughter who became a nun, and (4) our ancestor Margaret (died 1725), who married Sir James Cotter in 1725.

Robert Mathew, brother of our ancestor Sir David Mathew, married Maud, daughter of Thomas ap Howell, Lord of Brecknock, and was the ancestor of Toby Mathew, Archbishop of York 1606-1628, father of the famous courtier Toby Mathew (died 1655), a favorite of Queen Henrietta Maria and the man credited with introducing chocolate to England. Yet another cousin, Father Theobald or Toby Mathew (1790-1856) was a leader of the temperance movement in Ireland.

The arms are described as: Or, a lion rampant sable.

Main source: Stirnet