Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset

Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford, later 7th Duke of Somerset, portrait by John Vanderbank (1694–1739), c.1700. Egremont Private Collection, Petworth House
Arms of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset: Quarterly, 1st and 4th: Or, on a pile gules between six fleurs-de-lys azure three lions of England (special grant to 1st Duke of Somerset (d.1552)); 2nd and 3rd: Gules, two wings conjoined in lure or (Seymour)[1] These arms concede the positions of greatest honour, the 1st & 4th quarters, to a special grant of arms to the 1st Duke of Somerset by his nephew King Edward VI, incorporating the fleurs-de-lys (with tinctures reversed) of the Royal arms of France (first quartered by King Edward III) and the lions of the royal arms of Plantagenet

General Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset (11 November 1684 7 February 1750), styled Earl of Hertford until 1748, of Petworth House in Sussex, was a British soldier, politician and landowner.

Background

Seymour was the only son of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset by his first wife, the heiress Lady Elizabeth Percy, deemed Baroness Percy in her own right, the only surviving child of Joceline Percy, 11th and last Earl of Northumberland.[2]

Public life

Seymour was returned to Parliament for Marlborough in 1705, a seat he held until 1708, and then represented Northumberland until 1722. From 1740 to 1750 he was Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards, then known variously as "Seymour's / Earl of Hertford's / Duke of Somerset's Regiment". He was Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex from 1706 to 1750 and Custos Rotulorum of Wiltshire from 1726 to 1750. In 1737 he was appointed Governor of Minorca, a post he held until 1742, and then served as Governor of Guernsey until 1750. In 1748 he succeeded his father in the dukedom.

Land ownership and titles

The Duke's only son Lord Beauchamp died unmarried in 1744, aged 19 (see below). In 1748 Somerset was created Baron Warkworth, of Warkworth Castle in the County of Northumberland, and Earl of Northumberland, with remainder to his son-in-law, Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet,[3] with the intention that the majority of the Percy estates should descend in this line. He was at the same time created Baron of Cockermouth, in the County of Cumberland, and Earl of Egremont, with remainder to his nephews, Sir Charles Wyndham, 4th Baronet, of Orchard Wyndham, and Percy Wyndham-O'Brien,[3] a revival of the Egremont title held by an earlier member of the Percy family, Thomas Percy, 1st Baron Egremont.

Family

In 1713, Somerset married Frances Thynne, daughter of Henry Thynne (1675–1708) and granddaughter of Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth. This Thomas Thynne was the first cousin of "Tom of ten thousand", who had been the second husband of Algernon's own mother, Elizabeth. Somerset and Frances had two children:

Algernon died in 1750 and was buried in the Northumberland Vault, within Westminster Abbey.[4] He was one of the richest landowners in England, but as he died with no surviving son his estates were split after his death. The ducal title passed to a distant cousin, Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset. The earldom of Northumberland and most of the traditional Percy estates passed to his daughter and her husband (see Alnwick Castle, Northumberland House and Syon House). Petworth in Sussex passed to the duke's nephew Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont. Later dukes of Somerset lived at Maiden Bradley, a far more modest estate than those already mentioned, and for a short while at Stover House, Teigngrace, Devon and at Berry Pomeroy, Devon.

Ancestry

References

Parliament of England
Preceded by
Edward Ashe
John Jeffreys
Member of Parliament for Marlborough
17051707
With: John Jeffreys
Succeeded by
Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Parliament of England
Member of Parliament for Marlborough
17071708
With: John Jeffreys 17071708
Hon. James Bruce 1708
Succeeded by
Hon. James Bruce
Sir Edward Ernle
Preceded by
Thomas Forster
Sir John Delaval, Bt
Member of Parliament for Northumberland
17081722
With: Thomas Forster 17081716
Francis Delaval 17161722
Succeeded by
Francis Delaval
Sir William Middleton
Military offices
Preceded by
Emanuel Scrope Howe
Colonel of the Earl of Hertford's Regiment of Foot
17091715
Succeeded by
Henry Harrison
Preceded by
The Duke of Northumberland
Captain and Colonel of
The Queen's Troop of Horse Guards

17151740
Succeeded by
The Duke of Marlborough
Preceded by
Richard Kane
Governor of Minorca
17371742
Succeeded by
The Earl of Stair
Preceded by
The Duke of Argyll
Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards
17401742
Succeeded by
The Duke of Argyll
Preceded by
The Earl of Pomfret
Governor of Guernsey
17421750
Succeeded by
Sir John Ligonier
Preceded by
The Duke of Argyll
Colonel of the Royal Horse Guards
17421750
Succeeded by
The Duke of Richmond
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Earl of Dorset
Lord Lieutenant of Sussex
17061750
Vacant
Title next held by
The Earl of Ashburnham
Preceded by
The Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull
Custos Rotulorum of Wiltshire
17261750
Succeeded by
Robert Sawyer Herbert
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Charles Seymour
Duke of Somerset
17481750
Succeeded by
Edward Seymour
Earl of Hertford
17481750
Extinct
Baron Beauchamp
17481750
Baron Seymour of Trowbridge
17481750
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation Earl of Northumberland
17491750
Succeeded by
Hugh Percy
Earl of Egremont
17491750
Succeeded by
Charles Wyndham
Baron Percy
17221750
Succeeded by
Elizabeth Smithson
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