Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1067

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
SEYMOUR.
1053

on the Channel and West India stations, the last two years and four months in the capacity of Midshipman, in the Sanspareil 80, Prince of Wales 98, and Sanspareil again, all flag-ships of his father, and Acasta 40, Capt. Edw. Fellowes. In the Prince of Wales he witnessed the surrender of Surinam in Aug. 1799; and in the Acasta he assisted in making a variety of prizes. He was subsequently, in the course of 1802-3, employed on the Home, Newfoundland, and Mediterranean stations, in the Endymion 40, Capt. John Larmour, Isis 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Jas. Gambier, Endymion a second time, Capt. Hon. Chas. Paget, and Victory 100, bearing the flag of Lord Nelson. Under Capt. Paget we find him contributing, 18 and 25 June, 16 July, and 14 Aug. 1803, to the capture of La Colombe and La Bacchante corvettes of 16 and 18 guns, L’Adour store-ship, and Le Général Moreau privateer, of 16 guns. In Feb. and March, 1804, he was nominated in succession Acting-Lieutenant of the Madras 54, Capt. Chas. Marsh Sohomberg, and Donegal 74, Capts. Sir Rich. John Strachan and Pulteney Malcolm; and while in the latter ship, to which he was confirmed by a commission bearing date 12 Oct. 1804, he aided in taking the Spanish frigates Matilda and Amfitrite, the former laden with a cargo of quicksilver worth 200,000l. – accompanied Lord Nelson to the West Indies and back, in 1805, in pursuit of the combined squadrons of France and Spain – and participated in the capture of El Rayo of 100 guns, one of the ships recently defeated at Trafalgar. On 6 Feb. 1806, a few days after he had joined the Northumberland 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Hon. Alex. Cochrane, Lieut. Seymour fought in the action off St. Domingo; on which occasion a grape-shot penetrated his jaw, and carried away several teeth.[1] Having been advanced, 22 Jan. preceding, to the rank of Commander, he removed as such, on 9 Feb., to the Kingfisher sloop; in which vessel in the ensuing May he took in tow the Pallas 32, Capt. Lord Cochrane, after that ship had been disabled in action, under the batteries of Ile d’Aix, with the French frigate La Minerve, He was posted, 29 July, 1806, into the Aurora 28, stationed in the Mediterranean; and was subsequently appointed – 15 Feb. 1808, to the Pallas 32, in which frigate he took part in Lord Cochrane’s celebrated attack upon the French shipping in Basque Roads – 16 Sept. 1809, 1 June, 1812, and 1 Jan. 1813, to the Manilla[2] 36, Fortunée 36, and Leonidas 38, employed on the Lisbon, Irish, and West India stations – and 21 May, 1827, for a few months, to the Briton 46, engaged on particular service. In the Leonidas, which ship he left 14 Sept. 1814, Capt. Seymour captured, 23 May, 1813, the American privateer Paul Jones, of 16 guns and 85 men, 5 of whom were wounded during the chase. He was nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815; awarded, 28 May, 1816, a pension of 250l. per annum for his wound;[3] nominated a K.C.H. (accompanied with the honour of Knighthood) in 1831, and a G.C.H. 9 Dec. 1834; and advanced to Flag-rank 23 Nov. 1841. He filled a seat at the Board of Admiralty from Sept. 1841 until appointed, 14 May, 1844, Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific. He sailed for that station with his flag in the Collingwood 80, and continued there until relieved in 1848 by Rear-Admiral Phipps Hornby.

In 1818 Sir G. F. Seymour was appointed by his uncle, the Marquess of Hertford, then Lord Chamberlain, Serjeant-at-Arms to the House of Lords. From 4 Aug. 1830 until he resigned, 11 Nov. following, he was a Naval Aide-de-Camp to William IV.; under whom he filled the office of Master of the Robes from 13 Sept. 1830 until the period of his death. Sir George married, in March, 1811, Georgina Mary, second daughter of the late Admiral Hon. Sir Geo. Cranfield Berkeley, G.C.B., by whom he has issue three sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Fras. Geo. Hugh, married to a daughter of the third Earl of Mansfield, is a Captain in the Scots Fusileer Guards; and his second, Geo. Henry, a Captain R.N. His eldest daughter is married to a son of Rear-Admiral Sir Thos. John Cochrane, K.C.B.[4] Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.



SEYMOUR. (Captain, 1844.)

George Henry Seymour, born in 1818, is second son of Rear-Admiral Sir Geo. Fras. Seymour, Kt., C.B., G.C.H.

This officer entered the Navy 4 Feb. 1831; passed his examination in 1837; obtained his first commission 27 June, 1838; and after having served on the North America and West India station, as Additional-Lieutenant and Lieutenant, in the Cornwallis 72, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Harvey, Inconstant 36, Capt. Dan. Pring, Winchester 50, bearing the flag also of Sir T. Harvey, Pilot 16, Capt. Geo. Ramsay, and Crocodile 26, Capt. Alex. Milne, was promoted to the rank of Commander in compliment to the King of Prussia, 28 Jan. 1842. He commanded the Wanderer 16, in the East Indies, from 8 March, 1842, until posted, 24 May, 1844; and the Carysfort 26, in the Pacific, from 12 Dec. 1845 until paid off in the spring of 1848. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.



SEYMOUR. (Lieut., 181-3. f-p., 10; hp., 31)

John Crossley Seymour was born 18 Jan. 1793. He is brother of Lieut. Matthew Cassan Seymour, R.N.; nephew of Capt. Stephen Seymour, R.N., who commanded the Arab 16 when that vessel was lost on the Penmarcks, near Brest, 10 June, 1796; and cousin of Capt. Michael Seymour, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 20 June, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Amethyst of 42 guns and 261 men, commanded by his cousin, the late Sir Michael Seymour, under whom, while cruizing off L’Orient, he assisted as Midshipman at the capture, 11 Nov. 1808, of the French frigate La Thétis of 44 guns and 436 men, including troops, which was boarded and carried at the close of a furious contest of more than three hours, in which the British lost 19 men killed and 51 wounded, and the enemy 135 killed and 102 wounded. He also, 6 April, 1809, took part in a severe intermittent action of about four hours, which terminated in the capture, with a loss to the Amethyst of 8 men killed and 37 wounded, of another of the enemy’s frigates, Le Niemen of 46 guns and 339 men, of whom 47 were slain and 73 wounded. After attending the expedition to Flushing, Mr. Seymour, in Oct. 1809, followed his relative into the Niemen, which had been added to the British navy as a 38-gun frigate and in May, 1812, he accompanied him in the capacity of Master’s Mate into the Hannibal 74. In the spring of 1813 he sailed in the Indefatigable 44, Capt. John Fyffe, for South America, where he joined the Montagu 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Manley Dixon, and Nereus 42, Capt. Manley Hall Dixon, and was made Lieutenant, 16 July in the same year, into the Satellite 16, Capts. John Porteous, Fras, Chas. Annesley, Gordon, Thos. Saville Griffinhoofe, and Chas. Sam. White. He served in that vessel, latterly on the West India station, until Aug. 1815, and has since been on half-pay.

He married, 11 May, 1818, Miss Frances Maria Seymour, and has by her two sons and one daughter.



SEYMOUR. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 9; h-p., 31.)

Matthew Cassan Seymour is brother of Lieut. John Crossley Seymour, R.N.

This officer entered the. Navy, 2 June, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Amethyst of 42 guns and 261 men, commanded by the late Sir Michael Seymour, with whom, after having contributed, in the capacity of Midshipman, to the capture of the frigates alluded to in our memoir of his brother and taken part in the operations connected with the Walcheren expedition, he removed, in Oct. 1809 to the Niemen 38, and in May, 1812, as Master’s Mate, to the Hannibal 74. In the latter ship he

  1. Vide Gaz. 1806, p. 373.
  2. The Manilla was lost off the Texel 28 Jan. 1812, while under the temporary command of Capt. John Joyce.
  3. He had been presented with a gratuity from the Patriotic Fund.
  4. See correction in the Addendum.