Francis Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Trowbridge
![]() | This article includes a list of generalreferences,butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations.(December 2015) |
The Lord Seymour of Trowbridge | |
---|---|
![]() Francis Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Trowbridge, portrait c.1620 style of William Larkin. National Trust,Petworth House,which was rebuilt by his younger grandsonCharles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset(1662–1748) | |
Member of theEnglish Parliament forWiltshire | |
In office 1621–1621 Serving withSir Edward Bayntun | |
Preceded by | |
Succeeded by | |
Member of theEnglish Parliament forMarlborough | |
In office 1624–1624 Serving withRichard Digges | |
Preceded by |
|
Succeeded by |
|
Member of theEnglish Parliament for Wiltshire | |
In office 1625–1625 Serving withSir Henry Ley | |
Preceded by |
|
Succeeded by |
|
Member of theEnglish Parliament for Wiltshire | |
In office 1628–1629 Serving withSir William Button, Bt | |
Preceded by |
|
Succeeded by | Parliament suspended until 1640 |
Member of theEnglish Parliament for Wiltshire | |
In office 1640–1640 Serving withPhilip Lord Herbert | |
Preceded by | Parliament suspended since 1629 |
Succeeded by | |
Member of theEnglish Parliament forMarlborough | |
In office 1640–1641 Serving withJohn Francklyn | |
Preceded by | |
Succeeded by |
|
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1590 |
Died | 12 July 1664 |
Resting place | Bedwyn Magna,Wiltshire, England |
Children | Charles Seymour, 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge |
Parent |
|
Relatives | William Seymour, 2nd Earl of Hertford(brother) |
Francis Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Trowbridge(c. 1590– 12 July 1664), ofMarlborough CastleandSavernake Parkin Wiltshire,[1]was an English politician who sat in theHouse of Commonsat various times between 1621 and 1641 when he was raised to the peerage asBaron Seymour of Trowbridge.He supported theRoyalistcause during theEnglish Civil War.
Origins[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Arms_of_Seymour_Family.svg/200px-Arms_of_Seymour_Family.svg.png)
Seymour was the third son ofEdward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp(died 1612), eldest son and heir apparent ofEdward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford(1539–1621) (son ofEdward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset,Lord Protector of England) whom he pre-deceased, by his wife Honora Rogers, daughter of Sir Richard Rogers of Bryanstone, Dorset. Through his paternal grandmother, he was a great-great-grandson ofMary Tudor, Queen of FranceandCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk,thereby making him a direct descendant ofHenry VII.
His elder brotherWilliam Seymour, 2nd Earl of Hertford(1587–1660), also a Royalist commander in the Civil War, was createdMarquess of Hertfordin 1640 by King Charles I and at theRestoration of the Monarchyin 1660 was restored to theDukedom of SomersetandBarony of Seymourforfeited by their great-grandfather the first Duke, and became the 2nd Duke of Somerset and 2ndBaron Seymour.
Career[edit]
In June 1611 he was accused of abetting the escape of his brother William Seymour and his wife Arabella Stuart, but protested his innocence.[3]He was knighted by King James I at Royston on 23 October 1613. In 1612 was settled on him by his grandfather the manor of "Puriton with Downend" in Somerset, formerly one of the many possessions of his great-grandfather the 1st Duke of Somerset.[4]
Parliamentary career[edit]
In 1621 Seymour was electedMember of ParliamentforWiltshire.In May he proposed that distinctly harsh penalties should be inflicted on Edward Floyd. He was elected MP forMarlboroughin 1624. In that parliament he worked hard to induce a war with Spain, but protested against any extensive military operations in continental Europe and opposed sending an army to the Palatinate on the ground of the "extreme charge". In 1625 he was again elected MP for Wiltshire. On 30 July he proposed that the grant be limited to one subsidy and one-fifteenth, about a tenth of what King Charles I required to meet his engagements. He rejected the overtures which the Duke of Buckingham made to him, and in July he refused to join in the attack on Lord-Keeper Williams because Buckingham was secretly abetting this. In August he attacked the government for conducting a continental war, inveighing against peculation in high places and the sale of offices at court. On these grounds he dissuaded the House from granting supplies. He was re-elected to the new parliament summoned in February 1626, but was madeSheriff of Wiltshireto prevent his sitting. In the following July his name was struck off the commission of the peace. Thenceforth Seymour adhered to Wentworth's policy of moderation. In 1628 he was elected MP for Wiltshire and Marlborough and chose to sit for Wiltshire. On 29 April he joined Noy and Digges when they tried to modify the Commons' Bill of Liberties, and supported Wentworth'sHabeas CorpusBill. He also advocated, with Wentworth against Eliot, a joint-committee of the two Houses on the Petition of Right.[3]
In May 1639 Seymour refused to payship-money,and in the following March he was elected without opposition as MP for Wiltshire to theShort Parliament.In this parliament he spoke powerfully against granting any subsidies to the King before receiving any redress of grievances, and apparently compared"our affayres to the bondage of the Israelites in Egypt".In November 1640 he was elected MP for Marlborough to theLong Parliament.He soon began to differ from the popular party, and on 19 February 1641 he was createdBaron Seymour of Trowbridge,Wiltshire,[3]a year after his elder brother had been createdMarquess of Hertford.In the House of Lords he insisted on voting againstStrafford's attainder, although the opposite party denied his competence to vote because he was not a peer when the charges against Strafford were first brought up.
Civil War[edit]
In June 1642, Seymour signed the declaration that the king had no intention of war. He followed the King to York, offering to raise twenty horse in his cause, and Parliament accordingly declared him a delinquent. In autumn 1642 he went with his brother, the Marquis of Hertford, into theWestcountryto organise the royalist forces and suppress the parliamentary militia. He crossed theBristol ChannelfromMineheadtoGlamorganshireon a similar errand in September. In December 1643 he signed the letter of the peers to the council in Scotland, protesting against the invitation sent by parliament to the Scots to invade England. Early in 1645 he was on the commission for the defence and government of Oxford and the adjacent counties. In February he was one of the commissioners appointed to treat atUxbridge,and in May he was appointedChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.He was at Oxford when it surrendered on 22 June. He was admitted to composition and his fine was fixed at £3,725 by theCommittee for Compounding with Delinquents.He attended a council at Hampton Court on 7 October 1647, but took no part in politics during the Commonwealth and Protectorate periods.
Restoration[edit]
After theRestoration of the MonarchySeymour was re-appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, serving from 1660 until 1664.
Marriages and children[edit]
Seymour married twice:
- Firstly in 1620 to Frances Prinne (buried 7 September 1626, St Peter and St Paul Church, Marlborough[5]), daughter of SirGilbert Prinneof Allington, Wiltshire, by whom he had children including:
- Charles Seymour, 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge(1621–1665)
- Frances Seymour, daughter, who married SirWilliam Ducie.
- William Seymour, son (baptised 7 September 1626, St Peter and St Paul Church, Marlborough –?)[6]
- Secondly in 1635 he married Catherine Lee (died 1701), daughter of Sir Robert Lee by his wife Anne Lowe of Billesley, Warwickshire.
Death and burial[edit]
Seymour died in 1664 at the age of about 74, and was buried in thechancelofBedwyn Magna church,the parish church of the Seymours' ancestral seat ofWulfhall,owned by his brother.
Notes[edit]
- ^History of Parliamentbiography[1]
- ^Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.1036
- ^abcDictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- ^'Puriton', in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 8, the Poldens and the Levels, ed. Robert Dunning (London, 2004), pp. 146–160http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol8/pp146-160
- ^Lady Seymour, Frances."Burial Register for St Peter & St Paul Church, Marlborough (subscription required)".Ancestry.com.Retrieved5 February2019.
- ^Seymour, William."Baptismal Register for St Peter & St Paul Church, Marlborough (subscription required)".Ancestry.com.Retrieved5 February2019.
References[edit]
- D. Brunton &D. H. Pennington,Members of the Long Parliament(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- Esther S Cope and Willson H Coates (eds),Camden Fourth Series, Volume 19: Proceedings of the Short Parliament of 1640(London:Royal Historical Society,1977)
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography(1930)
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages[self-published source][better source needed]
- Burke's Extinct Peerage(London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1831)[2]
- Lundy, Darryl."p. 10304 § 103037".The Peerage.[unreliable source]
Further reading[edit]
- History of Parliamentbiography[3]
- 1590s births
- 1664 deaths
- 17th-century English nobility
- High Sheriffs of Wiltshire
- Seymour family
- Cavaliers
- English MPs 1621–1622
- English MPs 1624–1625
- English MPs 1625
- English MPs 1628–1629
- English MPs 1640 (April)
- English MPs 1640–1648
- Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster
- Baron Seymour of Trowbridge
- Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Wiltshire