Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset


Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset was an English peer and landowner.

Family

The son of Sir Edward Seymour, 5th Baronet, of Berry Pomeroy, a descendant of Lord Protector Somerset by his first marriage, to Catherine Fillol, Edward Seymour was baptised at Easton Royal, Wiltshire, on 17 January 1694.
On 8 March 1716 or 5 March 1717, at Monkton Farleigh, Edward Seymour married Mary Webb, a daughter of Daniel Webb, of Monkton Farleigh, and wife Elizabeth Somner, daughter of John Somner, of Seend. They had at least five children.

Inheritance and titles

In December 1740, his father died and Seymour inherited his manors in Wiltshire and Devon. On 11 September 1744, with the unexpected death of George Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, the only son of Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford, himself son and heir of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, the likelihood emerged of Seymour succeeding his distant cousin as Duke of Somerset and Baron Seymour, as the future 7th Duke was then aged sixty, and his wife was past child-bearing age. On 23 November 1750 the Duke died, and Seymour duly succeeded to his titles. However, he inherited little of the great wealth enjoyed by his two immediate predecessors, as the 7th Duke had arranged for the principal Percy family estates and houses of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland House, Petworth House, and Syon House to be divided between his daughter Elizabeth and his nephew Charles Wyndham. As a result, the Dukes of Somerset were never again among the greatest landowning families.

Progeny

Seymour's children were all born long before the dukedom came to him:
The 8th Duke of Somerset died between 12 and 15 December 1757, and was buried at Maiden Bradley on 21 December 1757.

Ancestry