Benjamin St John Attwood-Mathews was born in 1830 in Great Barr, Staffordshire. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and married Florence Wilkinson in 1860. Mathews was first recorded at Pontrilas House in Kelly’s Directory of Herefordshire in 1876. He appeared in the 1880 electoral register as tenant at the property and in the 1881 census. From this point onwards the property is referred to as Pontrilas Court and it is shown as such on the first edition Ordnance Survey map published in 1887.
In 1881 Mathews described himself as ‘gentleman JP’ (Justice of the Peace) and he lived at Pontrilas Court with his wife Florence. The couple employed a pageboy and three domestic servants. By 1891 the household had increased its domestic staff to include a butler, cook, two housemaids, kitchen maid and footman.
The National Dictionary of Biography records that Mathews was instrumental in founding the Alpine Club in 1857 with his cousin William Mathews, a renowned alpine climber. The idea had been considered for some time, but was decided in the summer that year on the summit of the highest mountain in the Bernese Alps. In August 1857 Mathews had joined a group of mountaineers, including his cousin, who climbed the Finsteraarhorn, whose peak is 4,274 metres.
Mathews lived at Pontrilas Court for twenty-eight years. He served as Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, and High Sheriff for Herefordshire from 1891. When the 1901 census was taken Mathews was away from home, leaving his domestic staff of housekeeper, cook, footman, housemaid and scullery maid at Pontrilas Court. He bought Llanvihangel Court in Monmouthshire in 1903 but died shortly afterwards.
