Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, 1st Baron Alcester, (12 April 1821 – 30 March 1895) was a British naval commander. He was Commander-in-Chief of the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

between 1874 and 1877 and of the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

between 1880 and 1883.

Background

Seymour was the son of Colonel Sir Horace Seymour and a cousin of the 5th Marquess of Hertford. He was a great-grandson of the 1st Marquess of Hertford.

Naval career

Seymour entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in 1834, and served in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and was for three years aide-de-camp to his uncle

Sir George Seymour Sir George Seymour was an English knight. Born in Chelmsford on 11 June. Life He was a younger son of John Seymour and Elizabeth Darrell. He was High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High She ...

, and was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in 1847. He also served in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the

Australia Station The Australia Station was the British, and later Australian, naval command responsible for the waters around the Australian continent.Dennis et al. 2008, p.53. Australia Station was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station, ...

from 10 March 1860 and 21 July 1862 as Commodore second class with his pennant aboard . He commanded the Naval Brigade in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

during the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the M ...

of 1860–61, and was made a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

(CB) for this. From 1868 to 1870 Seymour served as

private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in t ...

to the First Lord of the Admiralty,

Hugh Childers Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (25 June 1827 – 29 January 1896) was a British Liberal statesman of the nineteenth century. He is perhaps best known for his reform efforts at the Admiralty and the War Office. Later in his career, as Chancellor ...

, and was promoted to Rear-Admiral. From 1870 to 1872 he commanded the flying squadron. In 1872, he became a

Fourth Naval Lord The Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Supplies originally known as the Fourth Naval Lord was formerly one of the Naval Lords and members of the Board of Admiralty which controlled the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom the post is currently known ...

for two years, and then commander of the

. He became a vice-admiral on 31 December 1876, and was appointed KCB in June 1877, and was promoted to GCB on 24 May 1881. From 1880 to 1883 he was Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, and from 1883 to 1885 he was

Second Naval Lord The second (symbol: s) is the unit of Time in physics, time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally t ...

. He became an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

in May 1882. He was created Baron Alcester (pronounced "Allster"), of

Alcester Alcester () is a market town and civil parish of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England, approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 7 miles south of Redditc ...

in the

County of Warwick Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, on 24 November 1882 for his command of the

bombardment of Alexandria The Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt by the British Mediterranean Fleet took place on 11–13 July 1882. Admiral Beauchamp Seymour was in command of a fleet of fifteen Royal Navy ironclad ships which had previously sailed to the harbor of ...

and in the subsequent operations on the coast of Egypt. He was also honoured with a parliamentary grant of £25,000, the

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

and a Sword of Honour.

Personal life

Lord Alcester never married. He died 30 March 1895, aged 73, when his peerage became extinct. In his will he left the balance of his estate to Agnes Sinclair for her lifetime. On her death, two fifths were left to Frederick Charles Horace Sinclair and one fifth each to Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair, Claude Sinclair and Evelyn Sinclair.Berrow's Worcester Journal (Worcester, England), Saturday, 18 May 1895; pg. 2; Issue 10517

References

* ;Attribution *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcester, Beauchamp Seymour, 1st Baron 1821 births 1895 deaths Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War Royal Navy personnel of the New Zealand Wars Military leaders of the New Zealand Wars Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Military personnel from London Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Lords of the Admiralty Beauchamp Seymour, 1st Baron Alcester Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria

Background

Naval career

Personal life

See also

References

External links