Michael Seymour (naval officer, 1802)
Sir Michael Seymour GCB (born December 3, 1802 , † February 23, 1887 near Horndean ) was a British naval officer and admiral .
Life
He was a younger son of the future Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, 1st Baronet , from his marriage to Jane Hawker. At the age of eleven he joined the Royal Navy in 1813 and initially served on board the liner HMS Hannibal on which his father was the captain at the time. From 1816 to 1818 he studied at Royal Nava College in Portsmouth . In 1822 he was given his own command for the first time. Since 1841 he served as a captain partly in the Mediterranean , partly in North America and the West Indies. In 1850 he was appointed port inspector at Sheerness and in 1851 director of the naval institutes at Devonport .
In February 1854 he was assigned to Admiral Sir Charles John Napier as chief of staff for the Baltic Sea expedition in the war against Russia , during which he was wounded near Kronstadt and promoted to rear admiral (1854). In 1856 he received the supreme command of the naval station in East India and China. He led the operations that resulted from the Lorcha Arrow affair . In June 1857 he and his units destroyed the Chinese fleet, took Canton in December and captured the Taku fortresses near Tientsing on May 20, 1858 . In doing so, he forced the Chinese government to agree to the Tientsin Treaty , which opened ten more Chinese ports to trade.
In 1855 he was named Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and in 1859 as Knight Grand Cross of the same order.
From 1859 to 1863 he was an MP for Devonport in the House of Commons . He then led the command of the British military station in Portsmouth until 1866 . In 1864 he was appointed vice admiral . In 1870 he retired from active service with the rank of admiral .
From his 1829 marriage to Dora Knighton, daughter of Sir William Knighton, 1st Baronet, he had two daughters and a son.
literature
- Seymour, Michael . In: William Richard O'Byrne: A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray, London 1849, p. 1054 (English).
Web links
- Sir Michael Seymour at Hansard (English)
- Admiral Sir Michael Seymour on thepeerage.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Seymour, Michael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British naval officer and admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 3, 1802 |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 23, 1887 |
| Place of death | at Horndean |