Seymour (family)

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Ancestral coat of arms of the Seymour family
Coat of arms of the Dukes of Somerset from the House of Seymour

Seymour or St. Maur is the name of an old English family who lived in Monmouthshire in the 13th century and whose members have held various titles of nobility throughout history and have had a decisive influence on English politics and history. Its head is the Duke of Somerset .

The original form of the name, which the Dukes also temporarily adopted again in 1863, seems to have been St. Maur , which, according to Camden Seymour, is said to be a later corruption.

history

In 1240, Gilbert Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke , a certain William St. Maur, helped wrest a place called Woundy, near Caldecot in Monmouthshire , from the Welsh . Woundy and Penhow are mentioned as the property of Sir Richard St. Maur towards the end of the 13th century, but were lost to the family through the marriage of Sir Richard's great-great-granddaughter, the only child of John St. Maur, who died in 1359.

John St. Maurs younger brother Roger married Cecelia, a daughter and co-heiress of John Beauchamp of Hache, Baron Beauchamp de Somerset († 1361), the most of the vast lands of her father in Somersetshire , Devonshire , Buckinghamshire and Suffolk with the Marriage brought.

The eldest son from this connection was Sir William St. Maur, or Seymour , which came into use as a form of name since then, who belonged to the retinue of Edward of Woodstocks , the "Black Prince". William died before his mother, leaving behind a son, Roger (* around 1370), who inherited the lands and increased them to Wiltshire by marrying Maud (e), daughter of Sir William Esturmi of Wolf Hall .

Over the next three or four generations, the Seymours grew in wealth and importance in the western counties up to the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII . Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall played an important role in English politics. He took part in the suppression of the Cornwall uprising in 1497 and followed King Henry on the Field of the Cloth of Gold and in 1522 when Emperor Charles V visited England.

The first Duke of Somerset, the Protector

The eldest of Sir John's ten children was Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset , the famous Protector when Edward VI was a minor . who was executed in 1552. Sir John's third son was Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley , who married Henry VIII's widow Catherine Parr and was executed in 1549, and his eldest daughter Jane became the wife of Henry VIII and mother Edward VI.

The Protector was married twice. His title and property - probably because he had rejected his first wife, Catherine Fillol, for adultery in 1535 - initially passed on to his descendants from his second marriage to Anne Stanhope.

The descendants of the Protector

The older line

Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset , outside Bradley House

The Protector's eldest surviving son from his first marriage, Sir Edward Seymour († 1593), knight, of Berry Pomeroy , Devon, was the father of Sir Edward Seymour († 1613), who was raised to baronet, of Berry Pomeroy in 1611 . Over the next six generations, the title passed from father to son, all of whom were called Edward , until the last heir to the Protector from his second marriage without an heir died in 1750. This was followed by Sir Edward Seymour, 6th Baronet , as the 8th Duke of Somerset.

The third baronet, whose family home in Berry Pomeroy had been looted and burned by the Roundheads , had a younger brother Henry (1612–1686), who was a close companion to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles , during the Civil War . It was also he who brought the last message of the prince to King Charles I shortly before his execution. Henry Seymour remained in the service of the future king during his exile and held various high state offices after the Restoration. In 1669 he bought Langley Estate in Buckinghamshire, where he lived until his death in 1686. His son Henry was made Baronet of Langley in 1681 at the age of seven .

The younger line

The eldest son of the Protector from the second marriage, Edward Seymour (1537-1621), was released during the reign of Queen Mary by parliamentary acts of the conviction that his father was bestowed in 1551, and in 1559 appointed Baron Beauchamp and Earl of Hertford . In 1560 he secretly married Lady Catherine Gray, the second daughter of Henry Gray, 1st Duke of Suffolk , and sister of Lady Jane Gray , who claimed the English throne as the great-granddaughter of Henry VII . After Jane Grey's death, Catherine was next in line to the English throne according to Henry VIII's will . For this reason, both spouses attracted Queen Elizabeth's displeasure . They were imprisoned in the Tower and their marriage annulled on May 12, 1561, denying the legitimacy of their two sons.

The eldest of these sons, Edward Seymour (1561-1612), who was called Lord Beauchamp regardless of the question of legitimacy , received a patent in 1608 stating that he would become Earl of Hertford after the death of his father . He died while his father was still alive and left three sons, the eldest of whom, William , became the second Duke of Somerset in 1660. Another son, Francis , was made Baron Seymour of Trowbridge in 1641 .

His grandson Francis Seymour, 3rd Baron Seymour , became the 5th Duke of Somerset in 1675. After the death of his nephew Algernon in 1750, the younger line Seymour went out and the Duketitel fell to the older line of the house. Sir Edward Seymour, 6th Baronet , became the 8th Duke of Somerset and 6th Baron Seymour of Trowbridge .

Other members of the Seymour House

Henry Seymour (before 1738-1805), a son of Francis Seymour (1713-1761), brother of the 8th Duke of Somerset, was elected to parliament in 1763. He went to France in 1778 , took up residence in Prunay near Versailles and became Madame Dubarry's lover . Many of the letters she wrote to him are kept in Paris. Henry Seymour was married twice. He left behind his legitimate children an illegitimate daughter, Henriette Flicit, who later married Sir James Doughty-Tichborne. The child from this marriage was Roger Tichborne , for whom the famous impostor and impostor Arthur Orton posed in 1871 in order to come into possession of his rich inheritance. The Orton / Tichborn trial caused a sensation in 19th century England.

Offspring from the line Seymour-Conway

Lord Hugh Seymour (1759-1801), a younger son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford , was an eminent naval officer who mainly served under Lord Howe's command . He played a major role in his famous action on June 1, 1794, in which he defeated the French fleet at Ouessant (→ Glorious First of June ).

His son Sir George Francis Seymour (1787–1870), Admiral of the Fleet , began his career under Nelson . In 1818 he became Sergeant-at-Arms in the House of Lords, which he remained until 1841 when he was promoted to Rear Admiral and appointed Lord of the Admiralty .

His eldest son Francis George Hugh Seymour (1812-1884) followed his cousin Richard Seymour-Conway in 1870 as the 5th Marquess of Hertford .

Lord Hugh Seymour's younger son, Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour, was the father of Admiral Beauchamp Seymour, 1st Baron Alcester .

The Irish branch of the Seymours

A branch of the house of Seymour, which descended from a younger brother of the Protectors should be during the reign of Elizabeth I in Ireland have settled.

This includes:

  1. Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, 1st Baronet (1768–1834)
    1. Rev. Sir John Hobart Culme-Seymour, 2nd Baronet (1800–1880)
      1. Vice-Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd Baronet (1836-1920)
        1. Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 4th Baronet (1867-1925)
          1. Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 5th Baronet (1909-1999)
        2. Captain George Culme-Seymour (1878-1915)
          1. Major Mark Culme-Seymour (1910–1990)
            1. Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 6th Baronet (* 1962)
    2. Admiral Sir Michael Seymour GCB (1802-1887)
    3. Rev. Richard Seymour (1806-1834)
      1. Admiral Sir Edward Hobart Seymour (1840-1929)

literature