Arnold Nesbit Mathews

"Arnold Nesbit Mathews was born on 16.02.1765 after his parents got married on 06.09.1764. Owing to birth occuring ante-tempus,the incident was hushed up as much as possible and he was sent to the home of his father's uncle Mr. Joseph Mathews,Solicitor at Cromhall,Falfield,Gloucestershire,where he was brought up. He went to Sedbergh School. In 1782,he joined the Bengal Army as a cadet and on 1783 sailed on Lord McCartney to India.On arriving he took part in the 2nd Mysore war as an Artillery fireworker in 1789. In 1790 was transferred to the Artillery,fought in the 3rd Mysore war,was a lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion. In 1793 he lay siege to Pondicherry. At Jumna doab he fought in the 2nd Maratha war.At the Battle of Delhi he was severly wounded and lost a leg.He was appointed the fort adjutant at Agra in 1804,and at Fatehgarh in 1804 until 1815 and at last was appointed as Major in May 1817. Lord Landaff died at Swansea on July 31st,1806. In absence of Arnold Nesbit Mathews who was serving in India,adminstration was granted to his brother Francis James Mathews who at once assumed the title as the second Earl of Landaff and entered into possession of the estates.Four years later,he appeared before the Committee of Privileges,and could not produced any documentary proof for his alleged right to vote as the second Earl.A farm bailiff named Richard Cormac ,who had been in Lord Landaff's employ from the year 1785,swore in 1810 that Francis James was the eldest surviving son of the first Earl.A year after this Francis James, well known for his disreputable character disentailed the ancient Welsh and Irish estate of his family and in 1813 sold all the property in Wales in order to provide himself with funds for liquedation of his enormous gambling debts at the Cherooke Club and elsewhere, and died in his home in Dublin,March 12th,1833. After his father's death in 1806 Arnold Nesbit Mathews was the rightful second Earl of Landaff but he refused to hold any communication with his parents and never returned to Europe. However according to Yaqub Zaki, Deputy Director of The Muslim Institute Arnold Nesbit was a Muslim and ""reluctant to abandon the fleshpots of Calcutta for the inferior ones of London"", and so ""refused to return"" and left his ""younger brother" " to assume the title".