Lord Hugh Seymour
Lord Hugh Seymour, 1799 John Hoppner
Born	29 April 1759 (1759-04-29) London, England
Died	11 September 1801 (1801-09-12) (aged 42) HMSTisiphone, offJamaica
Allegiance	Great Britain  United Kingdom
Service/ branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1770–1801
Rank	Vice-Admiral
Commands	HMSDiana HMSAmbuscade HMSLatona HMSCanada HMSLeviathan HMS Sans Pareil Leeward Islands Station Jamaica Station
Battles / wars	American Revolutionary War Great Siege of Gibraltar French Revolutionary Wars Siege of Toulon Glorious First of June Battle of Groix
Other work	MP forNewport,Tregony,Wendover andPortsmouth

Vice-AdmiralLord Hugh Seymour (29 April 1759 – 11 September 1801) was a senior BritishRoyal Navy officer of the late 18th century who was the fifth son ofFrancis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, and became known for being both a prominent society figure and a highly competent naval officer. He served during theAmerican Revolutionary andFrench Revolutionary Wars and later in his career performed a period of shore duty on theAdmiralty board.

Seymour maintained a reputation as a courageous and innovative officer: he was awarded a commemorative medal for his actions at the battle of theGlorious First of June and is credited with introducingepaulettes to Royal Navy uniforms as a method of indicating rank to non-English speaking allies. In his youth he formed close personal friendships with fellow officerJohn Willett Payne andGeorge, Prince of Wales, through association with whom he gained a reputation as arake. His marriage in 1785, made at the insistence of his family as an antidote to his dissolution, was brought about through royal connections and proved very successful. During his lifetime he also held several seats as a member of parliament in theParliament of Great Britain, although he did not pursue an active political career.

Hugh Seymour was born in 1759 into one of the wealthiest families in England, as the fifth son ofFrancis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, and his wifeIsabella Fitzroy (Hugh retained the surname "Seymour-Conway" until his father's death in 1794, at which point he shortened it to Seymour). He was initially educated at Bracken's Academy inGreenwich, where he met lifelong friendJohn Willett Payne, before joining the Navy at age 11 at his own insistence. Seymour became a captain's servant on the yachtWilliam & Mary,^[1] and two years later moved toHMSPearl under his relation CaptainJohn Leveson-Gower, stationed offNewfoundland. After several short commissions, including service in the West Indies underGeorge Rodney, Seymour was attached toHMSAlarm as amidshipman in theMediterranean.^[2] Apart from a brief spell inHMSTrident, Seymour remained on her for several years, becoming a lieutenant in 1776. By 1776 theAmerican Revolutionary War was underway, and Seymour continued inAlarm until he was made acommander in 1778, taking command of thexebecHMSMinorca.^[2]

In 1779, Seymour was promoted once more, makingpost captain inHMSPorcupine and serving in command ofHMSDiana,HMSAmbuscade andHMSLatona, all in theChannel Fleet. The only major operation in which he participated during the period was the conclusion of theGreat Siege of Gibraltar, whenLatona was attached toLord Howe's fleet that relieved the fortress.^[2] During this service, Seymour was repeatedly engaged in scouting the Franco-Spanish fleet inAlgeciras, a task made difficult by bad weather and the erratic movements of the enemy. During much of the operation, CaptainRoger Curtis was stationed aboardLatona to facilitate communicate between Howe and the Governor of Gibraltar. The effort to relieve and resupply the fortress was a complete success andLatona was sent back to Britain with dispatches, although Seymour remained inGibraltar.^[3]

Following thePeace of Paris in 1783, Seymour took a house in London with his brother Lord George Seymour and John Willett Payne. The three men became notorious socialites, joining thePrince of Wales on many of his drinking exploits across London: Seymour remained close friends with Prince George for the rest of his life. Seymour, already known for his good looks, good manners, height and martial bearing, rapidly gained a reputation for dissolution.^[2] In 1785 however, Seymour married Lady Anne Horatia Waldegrave, daughter ofEarl Waldegrave andMaria Walpole (later Duchess of Gloucester) at the insistence of his family in a successful attempt to curtail his social activities.^[2] It was at this time that Seymour made his first foray into politics, becomingMP forNewport on theIsle of Wight before relinquishing the post two years later. In 1788 he became MP forTregony, but in 1790 he switched to become MP forWendover. Seymour remained in this position until 1796 when he changed his seat toPortsmouth, in which he remained until his death. He did not serve as an active politician in any of these positions, preferring his navy career to his political one.^[2]

In May 1791 Hugh Seymour became president of theHambledon Cricket Club, joining a band of like-minded Royal Navy Officers such as CaptainsErasmus Gower,Robert Calder,Charles Powell Hamilton, Mark Robinson, SirHyde Parker andRobert Linzee.^[4]

In the Spanish armament of 1790, Seymour was called to service in command of theship of the lineHMSCanada, opening his commission with a cruise off the Isle of Wight. Passing through shallow water, Seymour ordered the use of alead line to measure the depth ahead, but was accidentally struck in the head by the lead weight while soundings were being taken.^[5] Although little immediate damage seemed to have been caused, during the firing of a salute several days later Seymour suddenly suffered a severely adverse reaction and had to be taken ashore for emergency medical treatment. The head injury rendered him unable to endure any loud noises or bright lights and for the next three years he lived as an invalid at his country estate inHambledon.^[5] Command ofHMSCanada passed to Captain SirErasmus Gower, a lifelong friend.^[6] By 1793 Seymour was sufficiently recovered to return to service, and escortedLord Hood to the Mediterranean inHMSLeviathan. There Hood led the occupation, defence and ultimate withdrawal fromToulon during theRepublican siege of the city. Following the collapse of the city's defences, Seymour was sent back to England with dispatches but returned shortly afterward to convoyLeviathan back to Britain.^[2]

Transferred to the Channel Fleet,Leviathan was attached to service under Lord Howe and served with him during theAtlantic campaign of May 1794 alongside John Willett Payne, captain ofHMSRussell. The campaign culminated in theGlorious First of June, when a French fleet was defeated by Howe's innovative tactics, but was ultimately successful in protecting a large grain convoy from the United States. Seymour's command ofLeviathan was vitally important in the victory, the ship fighting at the initial engagement of the 28 May and seeing extensive action during the battle itself. Seymour was one of only a few of Howe's commanders to successfully close with the French line, although he was unable to break through it.^[7]Leviathan then engaged closely withAmerica, which she reduced to a battered wreck in a duel that lasted two hours.Leviathan was also badly damaged, having taken fire fromÉole andTrajan during the fighting.^[8] At Howe's order, Seymour then leftAmerica (which was later captured) and joined the reformed fleet that held off a French counter-attack in the latter stages of the battle.^[9] In the aftermath of the action, Seymour was one of the captains marked out for praise, being presented with a medal commemorating his service during the engagement.^[10]Leviathan had suffered 11 killed and 32 wounded in the engagement.^[11]

In 1795, Seymour moved to the recently capturedHMS Sans Pareil and soon became arear-admiral, engaging the French at theBattle of Groix.^[2] During the action, Seymour managed to bring his ship to the head of the British line pursuing the French fleet and engaged theFormidable andTigre.^[12] Both ships were captured in heavy fighting, andSans Pareil suffered ten killed and two wounded during the exchange.^[13] In 1796, Seymour was employed in the search for the French fleet which attempted and failed to invade Ireland, butSans Pareil was badly damaged in a collision withHMSPrince during the campaign and had to be decommissioned for extensive repairs. In April 1797, Seymour returned to sea with a small squadron of six ships searching the Eastern Atlantic for a Spanish treasure convoy. Although the convoy was eventually seized by a force sent byLord St. Vincent, Seymour had covered over 5,000 miles in his fruitless search.^[14]

Seymour had joined theAdmiralty in 1795,^[15] becoming aLord of the Admiralty and participating in much of the work the Admiralty board performed between 1795 and 1798, interposing his periods on land with brief sea commissions.^[2] In 1799, Seymour became avice-admiral and joined the squadron blockadingBrest for the next year, being involved in a minor operation againstBasque Roads.

In 1799 Seymour was sent to the West Indies as commander-in-chief of theLeeward Islands Station.^[16] In August he led the naval squadron in the capture ofSurinam in his flagshipPrince of Wales.^[17] Sometime after 3 May, 1800^[18] he went on to be commander-in-chief of theJamaica Station.^[19]

However, in 1801 he fell ill, contractingYellow Fever. He was sent to sea by his doctors in an attempt to regain his health but died aboardHMSTisiphone in September 1801.^[2]

Seymour's body was taken from Jamaica on the morning of 17 September 1801, for return to Britain aboardHMSPickle (originally aBermudian-built merchant vessel namedSting)^[20] and joined that of his wife, who had died inBristol a few days before her husband's death.^[2] His extensive estates were dispersed amongst his seven children, of whom six survived him:

• Adm. of the Flt.Sir George Seymour (1787–1870), father of the 5th Marquess of Hertford and a Princess (Laura,Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg)
• Lt-Col.Hugh Henry John Seymour (1790–1821)
• Col.Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour (1791 – 1851)
• William John Richard Seymour (1793–1801)
• Frederick Charles William Seymour (1 February 1797 – 7 December 1856), married Lady Mary Gordon (d. 13 June 1825), daughter ofGeorge Gordon, 9th Marquess of Huntly, on 15 April 1822, and Lady Augusta Hervey (d. 17 March 1880), daughter ofFrederick Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol, on 18 September 1832
• Horatia Maria Frances Seymour (c. 1796 – 26 August 1853), marriedJohn Philip Morier in 1814
• Mary Georgiana Seymour (d. 30 October 1848), marriedGeorge Dawson-Damer in 1825

Seymour's death was widely mourned among his contemporaries, Lord St. Vincent once describing him as "an excellent officer".^[2] His service had been energetic and characterised by innovation and invention: he developed a new system of fitting topmasts and was also credited with makingepaulettes standard among Royal Navy officers, following his difficulties in convincing French Royalists at the siege of Toulon that he was a British officer, due to his unimpressive uniform.^[21]

The Royal Navy has named two ships after Seymour. The firstHMS Seymour was adestroyer leader that was launched in 1916, saw service inWorld War I, and was sold in 1930. The secondHMS Seymour (K563) was a frigate active from 1943 to 1946 that served duringWorld War II.^[22]

North Seymour Island (Spanish:Isla Seymour Norte) in theGalápagos is named in his honour, the "north" distinguishing it from nearbyBaltra Island, which was formerly known as South Seymour Island, also in his honour.^[23] The airport on Baltra is still namedSeymour Airport and the pair of islands are still sometimes known as the Seymours or the Seymour Group.

• 1759 births
• 1801 deaths
• Younger sons of marquesses
• Royal Navy vice admirals
• Lords of the Admiralty
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• Seymour family
• British MPs 1784–1790
• British MPs 1790–1796
• British MPs 1796–1800
• Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall
• Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Portsmouth
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• Deaths from yellow fever

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