George Augustus Selwyn (politician)

For other people with the same name, see George Selwyn (disambiguation).


George Augustus Selwyn (11 August 1719 – 25 January 1791, age 71) was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Parliament of Great Britain.

Life

Selwyn spent 44 years in the House of Commons without being recorded as making a speech. He put his electoral interest, as the person who controlled both seats in Ludgershall and one in Gloucester, at the disposal of the King's ministers (whoever they might be), because he was financially dependent on obtaining (a total of three) sinecure offices and a pension, which offset his expenses of bribing the electorate, and his gambling debts.

He was MP for Ludgershall in 17471754 and for the constituency of Gloucester 17541780. After he lost his interest in Gloucester, Selwyn was again member for Ludgershall from 1780 until his death in 1791.

He was also elected for the Scottish constituency of Wigtown Burghs in 1768, when he thought he might be defeated at Gloucester. He was the first Englishman to be elected to Parliament by a constituency in Scotland. He chose to retain the English seat.

Selwyn was a friend of Robert Walpole, and a member of the Hellfire Club.

He was known for his fascination with the macabre[1] and other forms of sexual eccentricity.[2] When Selwyn visited a dying Henry Fox, he was refused admission. When Fox learned of this he quipped, "If Mr. Selwyn calls again, show him up. If I am alive, I shall be glad to see him, and if I am dead, I am sure he will be delighted to see me!" [3]

He is not buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

Portraits

References

  1. Wilson, Colin (1988). The Misfits: A study of Sexual Outsiders. Grafton. p. 17.
  2. BBC History Magazine. February 2011 vol 12 no 2 pp 53-54. "George Selwyn, a necrophiliac, gay transvestite, sat mute, loved, and undisturbed in the House of Commons for 44 years."
  3. Tillyard, Stella (1995). The Aristocrats. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Further Reading

External links


Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Charles Selwyn
Thomas Hayward
Member of Parliament for Ludgershall
17471754
With: Thomas Farrington
Succeeded by
Sir John Bland
Thomas Hayward
Preceded by
Charles Barrow
Benjamin Bathurst
Member of Parliament for Gloucester
17541780
With: Charles Barrow
Succeeded by
Charles Barrow
John Webb
Preceded by
Sir Peniston Lamb
Lord George Gordon
Member of Parliament for Ludgershall
17801791
With: Sir Peniston Lamb 1780–84
Nathaniel Wraxall 1784–90
Hon. William Assheton Harbord 1790–91
Succeeded by
Hon. William Assheton Harbord
Samuel Smith
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