General Edward Mathew

Son of William Mathew the Lt-Governor of St Kitts and Lt-General of the Leeward Islands (d. 1752), and himself Governor of Grenada 1784-1789. Husband of Lady Jane Bertie, daughter of the second Duke of Ancaster. His will refers to his [unnamed] estates and enslaved people on Dominica, which and whom he left to his son Brownlow.

1. Will of Edward Mathew General in His Majesty's Army of Argyle Street Middlesex proved 22/01/1806.

2. General Mathew and his wife Jane Bertie were also the parents of Anne, who was the first wife of the Rev. James Austen, brother of the novelist Jane Austen. General Mathew was living at Laverstoke House, Hampshire, at the time of Anne's marriage.

3. Born Antigua, 1728, son of William Mathew. Matriculated Queen's College, Oxford, 09/07/1744 age 15, equerry to George III, commanded a brigade of guards in America 1775, commander-in-chief West Indies, governor of Grenada 1784-9, colonel 62nd foot, a general in the army 1797, died 25/12/1805, aged 78.

4. Third son of William Mathew (Lieut-Gov. of Leeward Islands, d. 1752) and his wife Ann nee Smith (daughter of Daniel Smith, Deputy Governor of Nevis). Of Clanville Lodge, Co. Southampton.

1. PROB 11/1437/158.

2. Fully sourced genealogical account at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=janeausten&id=I146 [accessed 21/11/2016]. Deirdre Le Faye, A Chronology of Jane Austen and Her Family: 1700-2000 (2006) p. 142.

3. Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 [database online].

4. Langford Vere Oliver, History of the Island of Antigua (London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894) Vol. III p. 252.

We are grateful to Ronald Dunning for his assistance with compiling this entry.