Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset
Lord President of the Council | |
---|---|
In office 29 January – 13 July 1702 | |
Monarchs | William III Anne |
Preceded by | Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke |
Succeeded by | Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke |
Personal details | |
Born | Wiltshire, England | 13 August 1662
Died | 2 December 1748 Petworth, Great Britain | (aged 86)
Resting place | the Seymour Chapel of Salisbury Cathedral |
Spouse(s) | Lady Elizabeth Percy Lady Charlotte Finch |
Children | 9, including Algernon |
Parent(s) | Charles Seymour, 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge (father) Elizabeth Alington (mother) |
Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (13 August 1662 – 2 December 1748), known by the
Origins
Charles Seymour was the second son of
Education
Charles was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge,[2] where his portrait by Nathaniel Dance-Holland survives in the college's collection.[3]
Inherits dukedom of Somerset
In 1675, Charles's elder brother
Three years later, in 1678, Charles's brother, the 5th duke, was murdered in Italy, aged 20, unmarried and without progeny, having been shot at the door of his inn at Lerici. The 16-year-old Charles Seymour became the 6th duke and the 4th Baron Seymour of Trowbridge.
Percy inheritance
In 1682, at the age of 20 he married a great heiress, the 15-year-old Lady
"... for the preservation of the noble family and name of the Percys, he the said duke and all and every the issue of his body on her the said duchess begotten, should forever take upon him and them and be called and named only by the name and surname of Percy".
However, on attaining her majority of 21 the duchess under her hand and seal dated 30 January 1687 consented to waive and dispense with the agreement.
"An Act to enable Hugh Earl of Northumberland and Elizabeth Countess of Northumberland and Barones Percy, his Wife, and their Children, Progeny and Issue, to take and use the Name of Percy, and bear and quarter the Arms of the Percies Earls of Northumberland".
—23 Geo. 2. c. 14)
The reason for the name change was stated in the preamble to the Act as follows:[5]
"And as Algernon, late Duke of Somerset, did in his lifetime express his desire that the name of Percy should be used by and be the surname and family name of the Earls of Northumberland ... Sir Hugh Smithson now Earl of Northumberland and Lady Elizabeth his wife, Countess of Northumberland and Baroness Percy, as well out of their great regard to, and in compliance with the desire of, the said late duke, as for preserving the noble and ancient family and name of Percy and the coats of arms borne and quartered by the Percys Earls of Northumberland should be ... confirmed ... upon them ... by authority of Parliament".
Rebuilds Petworth House
Between 1688 and 1696 the Duke rebuilt Petworth House on a palatial scale. A painting made in about 1700 of his new house was identified by the art historian Sir
Career
In 1683, Somerset received an appointment in the royal household of King Charles II and in August 1685 he was appointed Colonel of the Queen Consort's Light Dragoons when
At the Glorious Revolution of 1689, he supported the Prince of Orange, who became King William III. Having befriended Princess Anne in 1692, he became a favourite of hers after her accession to the throne as Queen Anne (1702–1714), and was appointed by her in 1702 Master of the Horse, a post he held until 1712. Finding himself neglected by Marlborough, he made friends with the Tories, and succeeded in retaining the Queen's confidence, while his wife replaced the Duchess of Marlborough as Mistress of the Robes in 1711.[1] The Duchess of Somerset became the Queen's closest confidante, causing Jonathan Swift to direct at her a violent satire, The Windsor Prophecy, in which he accused her of murdering her previous husband, Thomas Thynne (died 1682)[12] of Longleat. The Duchess retained her influence even after the Queen, following a quarrel, dismissed the Duke as Master of the Horse in 1712.[13]
In the memorable crisis when Anne was at the point of death, Somerset acted with
He retained the office of Master of the Horse for the first year of the reign of King George I (1714–1727) until 1715,[14] when he was dismissed and retired to private life.[1]
In 1739, the Duke became a founding governor of the Foundling Hospital in London, the country's first and only children's home for foundlings, after his second wife, Charlotte Finch (1693–1773), became the first to sign the petition to King George II of its founder Captain Thomas Coram.
The Duke died at Petworth on 2 December 1748.
Marriages and descendants
Somerset married twice. Firstly, in 1682, at the age of twenty, as described above, he married the 15-year-old heiress
Following his wife's death in 1722 the Duke developed a romantic attachment to the widowed Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1660–1744) (née Sarah Jennings) whose husband the 1st Duke of Marlborough had died the same year. He sent her "feverish love letters",[16] but she remained loyal to her late husband.
By Lady Elizabeth Percy he had one surviving son and three daughters:
- Charles Seymour,[17] Earl of Hereford (baptized 22 March 1683 – died before 26 August 1683), who died an infant in his first year.
- Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet (died 1786) (who in 1749 adopted the surname Percy and in 1766 was created Duke of Northumberland) inherited half the great Percy estates including Alnwick Castle and Syon House.
- Percy Seymour, died unmarried.[17]
- Lady Elizabeth Seymour (1685 – 2 April 1734), eldest daughter, wife of Henry O'Brien, 8th Earl of Thomond (1688–1741), without progeny. His chosen heir was her younger nephew Percy Wyndham-O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond (c. 1713–1774) of Shortgrove, Essex, who adopted the surname O'Brien and was elevated to the peerage as Earl of Thomond.
- Lady Catherine Seymour (1693 – 9 April 1731), 2nd daughter, wife of high treason and his imprisonment in the Tower of London, the Duke offered to provide bail for his liberty, which was badly received by the king, who shortly afterwards dismissed him as Master of the Horse. Her eldest son was Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710–1763), who inherited half of the great Percy estates including Petworth House, Egremont Castle in Cumberland and Leconfield Castlein Yorkshire.
- Lady Anne Seymour (1709 – 27 November 1722), 3rd daughter, who married (as his second wife) Peregrine Osborne, Marquess of Carmarthen (1691–1731),[17] later 3rd Duke of Leeds, by whom she had a son who died an infant. She died aged 13 without surviving progeny.
- Lady Frances Seymour, died unmarried.[17]
Secondly on 4 February 1725, at the age of 63 he married
- Lady Frances Seymour (18 July 1728 – 25 January 1761), wife of John Manners, Marquess of Granby, eldest son of the Duke of Rutland
- Lady Charlotte Seymour (21 September 1730 – 15 February 1805), wife of Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Aylesford and had issue.
Somerset's last known letter to Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, dated 1737, twelve years after his second marriage, declared his unchanged affections for her. The correspondence is preserved in the British Library.
Death and burial
Somerset died at Petworth on 2 December 1748 and was buried in the Seymour Chapel of Salisbury Cathedral, in Wiltshire,[19] where the elaborate monument to his ancestor Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539–1621), son of the 1st Duke of Somerset, survives.
Succession
Somerset's son and heir apparent,
Arms
The Somerset
The 6th Duke of Somerset used these arms with an
Footnotes
- ^ Commissions were private assets that could be bought, sold or used as an investment and many Colonels played no active military role.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Somerset, Earls and Dukes of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 385–386. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ "Seymour, Charles (SMR662C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Trinity College, University of Cambridge". BBC Your Paintings. Archived from the original on 11 May 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ Collins, Arthur, Peerage of England, Volume 4, London, 1756, p. 192
- ^ a b Collins, Arthur, Peerage of England, Volume 4, London, 1756, p.192
- ^ Deed Poll Office: Private Act of Parliament 1749 (23 Geo. 2). c. 14
- Nicolson, Nigel, Great Houses of Britain, London, 1978, pp.159-60
- ^ "ViewFinder - Image Details". Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
- ^ Nicolson, Nigel, Great Houses of Britain, London, 1978, pp.159-60
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ISBN 1-330-44220-2.
- ^ Gregg, Edward Queen Anne Yale University Press 1980
- ^ Gregg Queen Anne
- ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.1037
- ^ "Warrant Books: April 1713, 1-15 Pages 169-184 Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 27, 1713. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1955". British History Online. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
- ^ "Collections".
- ^ a b c d Lodge, 1835, p.7
- ^ Lodge, p.4
- ^ Lodge, p. 7
- ^ Tierney, M.A., History and Antiquities of Arundel, 1833, Chapter 6, p. 565, note 4
- History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715–1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970 [1]
- ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.1036
- ^ Photograph in Nicolson, Nigel, Great Houses of Britain (London, 1978), p. 166
Bibliography
- Lodge, Edmund, Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain, Vol X, London, 1835, pp. 1–7: Charles Seymour, Sixth Duke of Somerset[2]
- St Maur, Harold, Annals of the Seymours, Being a History of the Seymour Family, From Early Times to Within a Few Years of the Present, London, 1902 [3] The author was the illegitimate grandson of the 12th Duke of Somerset, from whom he inherited the estate of Stover, Teigngracein Devon.