A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Seymour, Francis Edward
SEYMOUR. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 12; h-p., 34.)
Francis Edward Seymour, born 2 Sept. 1788, in London, is eldest son of the late Lieut.-Colonel Fras. Compton Seymour; grandson of Lord Fras. Seymour, Dean of Wells; and great-grandson of Edward, eighth Duke of Somerset. His brother, Edw. William, is a Lieutenant R.N.
This officer (who had been educated at the Royal Naval Academy) embarked, 8 July, 1801, as a Volunteer, on board the Malta 84, Capt. Albemarle Bertie, stationed in the Channel. He served next, from May, 1802, until Nov. 1805 in the Leander 50, Capts. Jas. Oughton, Fras. Wm. Fane, Alex. Skene, Wm. Lyall, and John Talbot, flag-ship of Sir And. Mitchell at Halifax; and from Dec. 1805 until July, 1808, in the Centaur 74, Capts. J. Talbot and Wm. Henry Webley, bearing the flag of Sir Sam. Hood. In the Leander he assisted at the capture, 23 Feb. 1805, of La Ville de Milan, French frigate of 46 guns, and the simultaneous recapture of her prize, the Cleopatra 32; and in the Centaur (besides aiding at the capture, 25 Sept. 1806, of four heavy French frigates from Rochefort, after an action in which Sir Sam. Hood lost his arm) he accompanied the expedition of 1807 against Copenhagen, and witnessed the surrender of Madeira. After serving for a few weeks with Sir Jas. Saumarez on board the Victory 100, he went back, 7 Aug. 1808, to the Centaur, in the capacity of Acting-Lieutenant; and on 26 of the same month contributed in her, in conjunction with the Implacable 74, to the taking, in sight of the whole Russian fleet near Rogerswick, of the 74-gun ship Sewolod, at the end of a close and furious conflict, in which the Centaur lost 3 killed and 27 wounded, and the enemy 180 killed and wounded. He was confirmed to the Centaur 3 Oct. following; and was subsequently appointed – 13 Dec. 1808, to the Frederickstein 32, Capts. Thos. Searle, Joseph Nourse, and Fras. Beaufort, stationed in the Mediterranean, where for nearly four years he was very actively and usefully employed, chiefly on survey service – 16 Nov. 1813, to the Granicus 36, Capt. Wm. Furlong Wise, lying at the Nore – and 28 April, 1814, to the Jason 32, as Flag-Lieutenant to H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence, under whom he accompanied Louis XVIII. to Calais. He was promoted to his present rank 16 May, 1814; and was lastly, from 5 April, 1828, until 5 April, 1831, employed as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard. While serving on one occasion as Supernumerary-Midshipman in the Swan hired-cutter he assisted in sinking, under the heights of Bornholm, a Danish cutter of superior force.
Commander Seymour married, 4 Feb. 1815, Elizabeth, second daughter of the late Chas. Cooke, Esq., of Bath, by whom he has issue one son and two daughters.