Royal Naval Biography/Seymour, Francis Edward
FRANCIS EDWARD SEYMOUR, Esq.
[Commander.]
Eldest son of the late Colonel Seymour, and grandson of Lord Francis Seymour, Dean of Wells, the fourth son of Edward, eighth Duke of Somerset.
This officer was born at London, Sept. 2d, 1788; and entered the royal navy, as midshipman on board the Malta 80, Captain Albemarle Bertie, in July 1801. We next find him, during the short peace of Amiens, joining the Leander 50, fitting out for the flag of Sir Andrew Mitchell, commander-in-chief on the North American station. In Feb. 1805, he assisted at the capture of la Ville de Milan, French frigate; and recapture of the Cleopatra 32[1]. Towards the close of the same year, he followed Captain (now Sir John) Talbot into the Centaur 74, then about to return home from Halifax; and he appears to have continued in that ship, as petty-officer and lieutenant, until the end of 1808. His first commission bears date Oct. 3d, in that year.
On the 25th Feb. 1806, Mr. Seymour assisted at the capture of four French 40-gun frigates; the Centaur then bearing the broad pendant of Sir Samuel Hood, whose flag, as a rear-admiral, was hoisted on board the same ship, before Copenhagen, Oct. 2d, 1807. He afterwards witnessed the occupation of Madeira, by a squadron under the command of Sir Samuel, and a military force commanded by Major-General Beresford[2]. On the 26th Aug. 1808, three men were killed, and twenty-seven officers, seamen, and marines wounded on board the Centaur, in action with the Sewolod, a Russian 74, the destruction of which ship is noticed in Vol. II. Part II. p. 649 et seq.
Mr. Seymour’s next appointment was to the Frederikssteen 32, in which frigate, successively commanded by Captains Thomas Searle, Joseph Nourso, and Francis Beaufort, and latterly employed in a most interesting survey of the south coast of Asia-Minor, he continued for about a period of four years[3]. On the 16th Nov. 1813, he was appointed to the Granicus 36, Captain William Furlong Wise, under whom he served until our present most gracious monarch hoisted the royal standard on board the Jason frigate, and condescended to appoint him his flag-lieutenant, in April 1814. After accompanying King Louis XVIII. to Calais, he was promoted to his present rank, by commission dated May 16th, 1814[4]. We lastly find him serving as an inspecting commander of the coast-guard, at Aldborough, in Suffolk, which appointment he appears to have received in April 1828.
Commander Seymour married, Feb. 4th, 1815, Elizabeth, daughter of the late Charles Cooke, of Bath, Esq., by whom he has issue one son and two daughters.