George Francis Alexander Seymour, 7th Marquess of Hertford (20 October 1871 – 16 February 1940) was the son of

Hugh Seymour, 6th Marquess of Hertford Captain Hugh de Grey Seymour, 6th Marquess of Hertford (22 October 1843 – 23 March 1912), styled Earl of Yarmouth from 1870 to 1884, was a British soldier, courtier and Conservative politician. He notably served as Comptroller of the Hous ...

. From 1884 to 1912 he was known as Earl of Yarmouth.

Early life

Seymour was born on 20 October 1871. He was the second child and eldest son of eight children born to

(1843–1912) and the Hon. Mary Hood. His siblings were Lady Margaret Alice Seymour (1869–1901) whose married name became Ismay, Lady Emily Mary Seymour (1873–1948), Lady Victoria Frederica Wilhelmina Georgina Seymour (1874–1960), Lady Jane Edith Seymour (b. 1877), Lord Henry Charles Seymour (1878–1939), who married Lady Helen Grosvenor, a daughter of the

1st Duke of Westminster Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, (13 October 1825 – 22 December 1899), styled Viscount Belgrave between 1831 and 1845, Earl Grosvenor between 1845 and 1869, and known as The Marquess of Westminster between 1869 and 1874, was an ...

, Lord Edward Beauchamp Seymour (1879–1917), and Lord George Frederick Seymour (1881–1940). His paternal grandparents were

Francis Seymour, 5th Marquess of Hertford Francis George Hugh Seymour, 5th Marquess of Hertford (11 February 1812 – 25 January 1884), known as Francis Seymour until 1870, was a British army officer, courtier and Conservative politician. He served as Lord Chamberlain of the Hous ...

, and Lady Emily Murray, daughter of

David Murray, 3rd Earl of Mansfield David William Murray, 3rd Earl of Mansfield, KT (7 March 1777 – 18 February 1840) was a British army officer and peer. Mansfield served as Lord Lieutenant of Clackmannanshire from 1803 until his death. Family David William Murray was born in ...

. His maternal grandparents were

Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, KB (2 December 17262 May 1814), of Cricket St Thomas, Somerset, was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Origins He was a younger son of ...

, a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer, and Lady Mary Penelope, the daughter of Arthur Hill, 3rd Marquess of Downshire.

Career

Yarmouth was commissioned into the

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, the Black Watch in 1891. He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in 1894 and resigned his commission in 1896. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant for Warwickshire in 1893. In 1895, he was sent to Australia by his family "for the good of his health and the country", due to his blatant behaviour.Moore, Clive "Sunshine And Rainbows", University of Queensland Press, 2001, pp46-48 Under the stage name of ‘Mademoiselle Roze’ he performed a number of dances, including an imitation of

Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (born Marie Louise Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American actress and dancer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. Career Born ...

, in theatres in Hobart and Melbourne. He settled in Mackay, growing sugar cane and bananas, but quickly created great animosity, due to being a dishonest employer: he was sued by a labourer (who won the case) for underpayment, and boasted tricking

kanakas Kanakas were workers (a mix of voluntary and involuntary) from various Pacific Islands employed in British colonies, such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Queensland (Australia) in the 19t ...

who purchased his chickens into thinking

gold sovereign The sovereign is a British gold coin with a nominal value of one pound sterling (£1) and contains 0.2354 troy oz of pure gold. Struck since 1817, it was originally a circulating coin that was accepted in Britain and elsewhere in the wor ...

s were less valuable than silver half-crowns. He was noted for all-male house parties at his isolated residence 'The Rocks' near Mackay, and achieved notoriety for "skirt dancing" in a sequinned outfit with butterfly wings, as one newspaper phrased it: "gyrating in the fluffy

serpentine dance The serpentine dance is a form of dance that was popular throughout the United States and Europe in the 1890s, becoming a staple of stage shows and early film. Background The Serpentine is an evolution of the skirt dance, a form of burlesque danc ...

before a Kanaka audience... His legs being tough and skinny his audience show little inclination to pot him as long pig." When he returned to England in 1897, a Mackay newspaper noted the citizens were "more interested in his departure" than his arrival. In 1904 Yarmouth joined the

Warwickshire Imperial Yeomanry The Warwickshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as cavalry and machine gunners in the First World War and as a cavalry and an armoured regiment in the Second World War, before being amalg ...

as a second lieutenant. He transferred to the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

on its creation in 1908 and was promoted to lieutenant that year, resigning his commission in 1911. He was also a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Warwickshire. He appeared on stage in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in one of

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

's companies under the name of Eric Hope. He filed for bankruptcy in 1909 and 1910, shortly before inheriting his father's titles and estate,

Ragley Hall Ragley Hall in the parish of Arrow in Warwickshire is a stately home, located south of Alcester and eight miles (13 km) west of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is the ancestral seat of the Seymour-Conway family, Marquesses of Hertford. History ...

Peerage

After his father's death on 23 March 1912, he succeeded as the 7th Earl of Hertford, the 7th Earl of Yarmouth, the 8th Baron Conway of Ragley, the 7th Viscount Beauchamp, the 7th Marquess of Hertford, and the 8th Baron Conway and Killultagh.

Personal life

On 27 April 1903, he married heiress

Alice Cornelia Thaw Alice Cornelia Thaw (January 2, 1880 – May 8, 1955) was an American philanthropist and, upon her marriage to George Seymour, Earl of Yarmouth (who later succeeded as 7th Marquess of Hertford), the Countess of Yarmouth. Early life Thaw was b ...

(1880–1955). She was the daughter of William Thaw Sr. At the wedding he extorted her parents to increase the dowry under the threat he would not go through the marriage. The marriage was annulled in 1908 due to non-consummation. As part of the divorce, all financial interests were returned to Thaw, and she resumed using her maiden name. In May 1913, he became engaged to Mrs. Moss-Cockle, who was much older than him and received $3,250,000 by her former husband. By July of the same year, the engagement was called off, with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' writing: "It is rumored that lately the course of true love has not been running as smoothly as it ought to in the case of the Marquis of Hartford and Mrs. Moss Cockle, whose engagement was recently announced." Lord Hertford died at his home in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

Devonshire Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, ...

in 1940, aged 68 and childless. His titles passed to his nephew, Hugh Seymour.

References

External links

*
George Photographs of Francis Alexander Seymour, 7th Marquess of Hertford (1871-1940)
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hertford, George Seymour, 7th Marquess Of 1871 births 1940 deaths

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

Black Watch officers Warwickshire Yeomanry officers 7 LGBT peers English LGBT politicians LGBT military personnel Deputy Lieutenants of Warwickshire