Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/238

 was again and more completely destroyed by Selvach, and the sept of Cathboth, a branch of the tribe of Lorn, to another branch of which Selvach belonged, was slaughtered (ib.), and in the following year the Britons were defeated by the Dalriads at a place called Livingerhat (? Loch Artetit, east of Loch Lomond). In 712 Dunaverty (Aberte) was besieged by Selvach (ib.), who in 714 rebuilt Dunolly (Annals of Tighernach). In 717 the Britons were defeated by the Dalriads at a stone called Minverce (ib.), perhaps a place called Clach na Breattan in Glen Falloch at the head of Loch Lomond. In September 719 there was a battle at Finglen in Lorn, known by tradition as ‘the battle of the brothers,’ between the two sons of Fearchair Fada, when Ainbhealach, who, we may presume, had escaped from Ireland, was slain by Selvach (ib.) In October of the same year Duncad MacBecc and the tribe of Gabhran defeated Selvach and the tribe of Lorn in a sea fight at Ardannisby (ib.) Four years later, following a common Celtic usage of unsuccessful or ageing kings, Selvach became a priest (ib.), and in the entry which records this he is called king of Dalriada. His son Dungal reigned in his stead (Synchronisms of Flann Mainistrech), but in 726 was driven from his kingdom by Eochadh, son of Eochach of the tribe of Gabhran. Again following a usual custom of Celtic chiefs, Selvach came out of his monastic retreat and endeavoured by leading his tribe to recover the kingdom of Dalriada from the rival tribe of Gabhran. But a battle fought by him in 727 with that tribe at Rosfoichen, a headland near Loch Feochan, not far from Oban, was unsuccessful, and Eochadh retained the sovereignty over Dalriada till his death in 733. In 736 two sons of Selvach, Dungal and Feradach, were taken captive by Angus MacFergus, the great monarch of the Picts, who wasted Dalriada and occupied the fort of Dunad (Annals of Tighernach). The date of the death of Selvach is given as 730 (A.D. 729) in the ‘Annals of Ulster,’ the best authority for this period.

[Some ingenious conjectures will be found in Skene's Celtic Scotland, and some apocryphal details in Buchanan; but the Irish Annals, mentioned above, are alone followed here. See also Skene's Notes to Fordun's Chronicle.]

 SELWYN, CHARLES JASPER (1813–1869), lord justice, third and youngest son of William Selwyn (1775–1855) [q. v.], and brother of George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878) [q. v.], bishop of Lichfield, and of William Selwyn (1806–1875) [q. v.], divine, was born at Church Row, Hampstead, Middlesex, on 13 Oct. 1813. He was educated at Ealing, at Eton, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he was successively scholar and fellow. He graduated B.A. 1836, M.A. 1839, and LL.D. 1862. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn on 27 Jan. 1840, practised chiefly before the master of the rolls, and amassed a large fortune. As a counsel he was not very brilliant, but he got up his cases with singular accuracy and was listened to with great attention by the court. He served as commissary to the university of Cambridge from 1855 to 1858, received a silk gown on 7 April 1856, and in the same year was made a bencher of his inn. He entered parliament as member for Cambridge University in April 1859, and sat for that constituency until 1868. He was a staunch conservative and a sound churchman, remarkable for polished elocution and firm but conciliatory tone. He first spoke in the house on the address to the queen on arming the volunteer corps (Hansard, 5 July 1859, p. 678), and on 13 Aug. 1859 made a powerful speech on a question of privilege connected with the Pontefract election inquiry (ib. pp. 1409–11). In the same month he moved a resolution whereby the committee on the Stamp Duties Bill was enabled to introduce a clause extending probate duty to property exceeding one million in value (ib. 4 Aug. p. 991), and a few months later secured the rejection of Mr. L. L. Dillwyn's Endowed Schools Bill (ib. 21 March 1860, pp. 979–83). His best speech was on the motion for the second reading of the Ecclesiastical Commission Bill (ib. 6 June 1860, pp. 2087–103). He spoke for a long time with great earnestness against the bill, and moved an amendment to it. The bill was subsequently withdrawn after a three nights' debate. On 20 Feb. 1861 he divided the house successfully by an amendment to the Trustees of Charities Bill (ib. pp. 675–83). One of his last speeches was on the Reform Bill of 1867, when he advocated that the lodger franchise should be extended to university lodgers in the town of Cambridge (ib. 24 June 1867, p. 484).

Selwyn became solicitor-general in Lord Derby's administration on 18 July 1867, and was knighted on 3 Aug. Disraeli appointed him a lord-justice of appeal on 8 Feb. 1868, and he was named a privy councillor on 28 March. As a judge, Selwyn proved himself considerate and patient. He died at Pagoda House, Richmond, Surrey, on 11 Aug. 1869, and was buried in Nunhead cemetery. He married, first, in 1856, Hester, fifth daughter of J. G. Ravenshaw, chairman of the East India Company, and widow of Thomas Dowler, M.D. He married, secondly,