Edward Hobart Seymour

Sir Edward Hobart Seymour

Seymour as a 15 year old

Seymour (third from left) with Li Hongzhang

Sir Edward Hobart Seymour , OM , GCB , GCVO , (born April 30, 1840 in Kinwarton , † March 2, 1929 in Maidenhead ) was an admiral in the British Royal Navy .

Life

Seymour was born on April 30, 1840, the second son of a minister in Kinwarton, Warwickshire . From 1850 he attended Radley College . After graduating, he attended Eastman's Naval Academy in Southsea from October 1852 and passed the naval entrance examination two months later. The following day he was transferred as a midshipman (sea cadet) on board the HMS Encounter .

In January 1854, when the tensions with Russia began, he was transferred to the Black Sea on board the HMS Terrible and remained with her until the end of the military operation of the Crimean War .

This was followed by his transfer to East Asia on the HMS Calcutta , the flagship of his uncle Michael Seymour , where he took part in the Battle of Fatshan Creek , the capture of Canton and the battles for the Taku forts during the Second Opium War .

After a sunstroke, he was ordered back to Great Britain and passed the mate (lieutenant) exam . After his recovery he returned, was promoted to lieutenant (first lieutenant) and took part in the successful storming of the Taku forts. He then took part in battles against the Taiping rebels and the takings of Ningpo and Jiading . Returning to Great Britain in 1863, he served three years in Portsmouth as his uncle's adjutant. At the age of 26, he was promoted to commander (frigate captain). After two years on half pay , he was employed by the Irish Coast Guard and, in the summer of 1869, was given command of the Gunboat Growler on the west coast of Africa. He was badly wounded in the leg during fighting in the Congo . He was again placed on half pay, this time for 18 months.

In March 1873 he was promoted to captain (captain), and commands on a mail ship and a troop transport followed. In 1879 again on half pay he was deployed in the Mediterranean from April 1880. First on the cruiser HMS Iris , then on land in Egypt during the events that followed the Urabi uprising . From November 1882 to February 1885 he took command of the battleship HMS Inflexible . Once again on half pay for 10 months, he then served under Admiral George Willes and became Deputy Inspector of the Naval Reserve. In 1889, at the age of 49, he was promoted to Rear Admiral (Rear Admiral) and used the following long time on half pay for trips to France, Russia, the West Indies and the United States. This was followed by posts as deputy commander of the Channel Squadron and as reserve inspector.

On June 22, 1897 he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath . He thus belonged to the knighthood and from then on had the addition of "Sir" to his name.

In December 1897, Seymour took up his post as Commander in Chief of the China Station . The Boxer Rebellion broke out during his tenure . During the fighting he commanded an international expeditionary force . On November 9, 1900, he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. Promoted to Admiral in March 1901, he became Admiral of the fleet in February 1905. On May 15, 1906, he was inducted into the Royal Victorian Order as the Knight Grand Cross .

In 1910 he retired.

Seymour died on March 2, 1929 at Hedsor View, Maidenhead Court, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Commander in Chief, China Station

Boxer riot

Seymour became Commander in Chief of the China Station on February 18, 1898 with his flag in the battleship HMS Centurion . In early 1900 the Boxers, a rural mass movement, decided to liberate China from Western influence and in June 1900 they advanced to Beijing to start the Boxer Rebellion . The diplomatic legations in Beijing asked for military assistance. On June 9, 1900, Sir Claude MacDonald , the British minister, telegraphed Seymour reporting that the situation in Beijing was "getting more serious by the hour" and that "troops should be landed and all preparations for an advance into Beijing made immediately." In response, Seymour assembled a lightly armed force of 2,000 seamen and marines from Western and Japanese warships in Tianjin . The expedition took them to Beijing by train. Seymour's force consisted of 916 British, 455 Germans, 326 Russians, 158 French, 112 Americans, 54 Japanese, 41 Italians and 26 Austrians.

On the first day, the Allied forces traveled 25 kilometers without incident across a bridge in Yancun across the Hai River , even though Chinese General Nie Shicheng and thousands of his soldiers were encamped there. The next few days passed slowly as Seymour had to repair the railroad line and fend off the Boxer attacks while his trains advanced. On June 14, 1900, several hundred boxers armed with swords, spears and gingals attacked Seymour twice, killing five Italian sailors who had acted as picket lines. The Americans counted 102 boxer bodies left on the battlefield at the end of a battle.

On June 16, 1900, there was an allied European and Japanese attack on the Dagu forts . As a result of the attack in Dagu, the Chinese government decided to resist Seymour's expedition and kill or expel all foreigners in northern China. On June 18, 1900, Seymour's troops were suddenly attacked by several thousand well-armed Chinese imperial soldiers who had not opposed Seymour's passage a few days earlier. The foreign seafarers and marines, especially the Germans, fought the attack, reportedly killing hundreds of Chinese people with the loss of seven dead and 57 wounded. The need to care for the wounded, a lack of supplies and ammunition, and the likelihood of further Chinese attacks forced Seymour and his officers to decide to retreat to Tianjin.

Trivia

The English exclamation " The Germans to the Front " is said to have been made by him during the Boxer uprising.

Web links

Commons : Edward Hobart Seymour  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

literature

• HW Richmond: Seymour, Edward Hobart. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Navy List March 1901 . S. 217 .
2. ↑ Fleming . S. 72 .
3. ^ Robert Leonhard: The China Relief Expedition. (PDF) p. 11 , archived from the original on December 6, 2016 ; accessed on May 13, 2018 (English). 
4. ↑ David . S. 102 .
5. ^ Thompson . S. 61 .
6. ↑ David. P. 83; Fleming. P. 103.
7. ↑ David. P. 107; Bacon. P. 108.