Like his father, Selwyn rowed for Cambridge and took part in the Boat Races of 1864 and 1866, both of which were won by Oxford.

[2] In 1864, with Robert Kinglake, he won the Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta, beating Edwin Brickwood and his brother in the final.

He held this position until he moved to Pau, France, at the beginning of 1898 on account of bad health.

[1] Selwyn married Clara Long-Innes and, after her death in 1877, Annie Catherine, eldest daughter of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, the Australian industrialist.

[5] His son George Augustus Selwyn is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge; he died in 1912, aged 16.