Charles August Selby

File:Øer 08 Ovrupgaard Ø 1867.jpg

Orupgaard was built by Selby.

Charles August Selby (24 October 24, 1755 – 15 March 1823) was an English-Danish merchant and landowner. He built the Orupgaard manor house on the Danish island of Falster. The Baron's oldest son, the politician and landowner, Charles Borre Selby, inherited the estate.

Biography

Educated by English Benedictine monks in Douai in Flanders, he then entered commerce. In 1773, he joined William Chippendale's firm in Copenhagen which had interests in a sugar refinery. He was also associated with the Copenhagen firm of Handelshus Selby & Co., which later became Selby & Ter-Borch, and in 1795, the company was taken over by Selby's partner, the Austrian consul Thomas Ter-Borch. Selby developed a profitable interest in West-Indian trade until 1795 when he bought Bækkeskov and the Bredeshave farm. There, he was successful in introducing English and Flemish methods of farming. He built a Neoclassical manor at Bækkeskov but surprisingly sold it again in 1805 for reasons unknown. Selby was styled as Baron in 1796.

After his first wife died in 1809, he bought Orupgård on the island of Falster, redesigning the manor and developing farming there. Through his second wife, he acquired Güldenstein in Holstein together with several farms in the vicinity where he applied model approaches to cattle farming and forestry for the remainder of his life. From his correspondence, it can be seen Selby was a well-educated, gentlemanly figure with an interest in art and aesthetics. He demonstrated strong affinities with Denmark, donating considerable sums for the reconstruction of its fleet.