Sir Edward Seymour, 1st Baronet (c. 1563 – 10 April 1613) of

Berry Pomeroy Berry Pomeroy is a village and civil parish in the South Hams district of Devon, England, east of the town of Totnes. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Ipplepen, Marldon, Torbay (unitary authority), Stoke G ...

, Devon, was Member of Parliament for

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, twice

High Sheriff of Devon The High Sheriff of Devon is the Kings's representative for the County of Devon, a territory known as his/her bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, they hold the office for one year. They have judicial, ceremonial and administrative f ...

and an

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Origins

Born at

Berry Pomeroy Castle Berry Pomeroy Castle, a Tudor period, Tudor mansion within the walls of an earlier castle, is near the village of Berry Pomeroy, in South Devon, England. It was built in the late 15th century by the Pomeroy family which had held the land since t ...

, Devon, of a family greatly influential in the Western counties, he was the son and heir of Lord Edward Seymour (died 1593), by his wife Margaret Walsh. He was the grandson of

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp (150022 January 1552) was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King E ...

(c. 1500 – 1552),

Lord Protector Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') is a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometime ...

, in the elder but lower-ranking line of his descendants. Because of the alleged adultery of the Duke's first wife

Catherine Fillol Catherine Fillol (or Filliol; c. 1507 – c. 1535), Lady Seymour, was an English aristocrat and the first wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. The current Duke is Somerset is her distant but direct descendant. Family Fillol was the da ...

, the Dukedom had been entailed with preference to his sons by his second marriage.

Career

Aged 20 he was appointed Deputy Vice-Admiral of Devon. In 1586 he was Vice-Admiral of Cornwall. In the late 16th century, there was concern at the threat of a Spanish invasion, and he received a commission as a colonel in 1595, in charge of 1,600 men, and responsible for an area of the south Devon coast from Dartmouth to Plymouth. He was appointed

in 1595 and 1605 and returned as Member of Parliament for

in 1593 and between 1601 and 1611. Berry Pomeroy Castle - geograph

He spent a large sum extending

, over £20,000 according to John Prince in his ''Worthies of Devon'', 1697, particularly in the building of the north range in about 1600. In 1604 he tried to claim part of his grandfather the Duke of Somerset's estate, but was opposed by his half-uncle

Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Baron Beauchamp, KG (22 May 1539 – 6 April 1621), of Wulfhall and Totnam Lodge in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset, of Netley Abbey, Hampshire, and of Hertford House, Ca ...

and was unsuccessful. From around 1611, as a result of the large expenditure on his home, the cost of supporting his eight children and legal expenses, he was apparently short of money. Despite his financial problems on 29 June 1611 he was created Baronet Seymour, of Berry Pomeroy, the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

for which cost him £1,095.

Marriage and children

At the age of 13 on 19 September 1576 he married Elizabeth Champernowne, having been betrothed to her for about ten years. She was a daughter of Sir Arthur Champernowne (died 1578) of Dartington, Devon, Vice-Admiral of the West under Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. With her Seymour had children including:

Sons

Sir Edward Seymour, 2nd Baronet Sir Edward Seymour, 2nd Baronet (c. 1580 – 5 October 1659) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons between 1601 and 1625. He was an ambassador to Denmark. During the English Civ ...

(c. 1580 – 1659) *William Seymour (died 1622), married Joan Young, daughter of John Young *Richard Seymour (died 1655) Vivian 1895, p. 703

Daughters

*Mary Seymour, married Sir George Farewell. *Elizabeth Seymour, married George Cary of Cockington. *Bridget Seymour (b. 1577), married Sir John Bruin. *Anna Seymour (died 1639), married Edmond II Parker (1592–1649) of

North Molton North Molton is a village, parish and former Manorialism, manor in North Devon, England. The population of the parish in 2001 was 1,047, decreasing to 721 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. An electoral ward with the same name also ...

and Boringdon Hall, Plympton St Mary, ancestor of the Earl of Morley.

Death and burial

He died in 1613 and was buried in St Mary's Church, Berry Pomeroy, where there survives a well-preserved monument to him, termed by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

as "astonishingly naive". He was succeeded by his eldest son

(c. 1580 – 1659).

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seymour, Edward, 1st Baronet 1560s births 1613 deaths 101 Edward Seymour, 1st baronet Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Devon High sheriffs of Devon English MPs 1593 English MPs 1601 English MPs 1604–1611