Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (22 October 1697 – 1 February 1768), formerly Mary Webb, was the wife of

Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset (December 1694 or early 1695 – December 1757) 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 fi ...

, and the mother of both the 9th and 10th dukes. Mary Webb was born at Seend, Wiltshire, the only child of Daniel Webb, of

Monkton Farleigh Monkton Farleigh is a village and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, on high ground northwest of Bradford-on-Avon, and a similar distance east of the city of Bath. The parish includes the hamlets of Farleigh Wick and Pinckney Green. In th ...

, and his wife Elizabeth Somner, who was the daughter of John Somner of Seend. She married the duke, then Sir Edward Seymour (6th Baronet Seymour), on 8 March 1716 or 5 March 1717, at Monkton Farleigh. In December 1740, Seymour inherited his father's estates in Wiltshire and Devon. On 11 September 1744, the unexpected death of George Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp (1725–1744), the only son of

Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset General Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset (11 November 16847 February 1750) was a British Army officer, Whig politician and peer who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1722 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Percy and took his ...

, made Sir Edward the heir presumptive to the

dukedom Dukedom may refer to: * The title and office of a duke * Duchy, a realm ruled by a duke or duchess * Dukedom, Kentucky and Tennessee, United States * ''Dukedom'' (game), a land management game See also * Lists of dukedoms Lists of dukedoms incl ...

and to the barony of Seymour. On 23 November 1750 the 7th duke died, and Seymour succeeded to the dukedom, his wife then becoming a duchess. The principal

Percy family The Percy family is an old English noble family. They were among the oldest and most powerful noble families in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages. The noble family is known for its long rivalry with the House of Neville, another fam ...

estates and houses of

Alnwick Castle Alnwick Castle () is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland, 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman Conquest and renovated an ...

Northumberland House Northumberland House (also known as Suffolk House when owned by the Earls of Suffolk) was a large Jacobean architecture, Jacobean Townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse in London, so-called because it was, for most of its history, the London re ...

Petworth House Petworth House is a late 17th-century Grade I listed English country house, country house in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England. It was built in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the desi ...

, and

Syon House Syon House is the west London residence of the Duke of Northumberland. A Grade I listed building, it lies within the 200-acre (80 hectare) Syon Park, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The family's traditional central London residence had b ...

, had been divided between the 7th duke's daughter Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, and his nephew,

Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, PC (19 August 171021 August 1763), of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset, Petworth House in Sussex, and of Egremont House in Mayfair, London, was a British statesman who served as Secretary of State for the Sou ...

. Their children were: * Edward Seymour, 9th Duke of Somerset (1717–1792) * Webb Seymour, 10th Duke of Somerset (1718–1793) *Lord William Seymour (1724–1800), who married Hester Maltravers and had children: **Hon. Edward Seymour (b. 3 May 1768) **Hon. William Seymour (b. 28 March 1769) **Hon. Hester Seymour (b. 24 November 1770) *Very Reverend Lord Francis Seymour (1726–1799),

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells and the mother church of the diocese of Bath and Wells. There are daily Church of England services in ...

, who married Catherine Payne and had children; he was the ancestor of Edward Seymour, 16th Duke of Somerset, and of Colonel

Henry Abel Smith Colonel Sir Henry Abel Smith, (8 March 1900 – 24 January 1993) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of Queensland, Australia. He married Lady May Cambridge, a niece of Queen Mary, consort of King George V. Early life and fa ...

. *Lady Mary Seymour (1744–1762), who married Vincent John Biscoe, of

Hookwood Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately north-west of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surr ...

. The duchess was a patron of several charities. The duke died in December 1757, and was buried at

Maiden Bradley Maiden Bradley is a village in south-west Wiltshire, England, about south-west of Warminster and bordering the county of Somerset. The B3092 road between Frome and Mere, Wiltshire, Mere forms the village street. Bradley House (Wiltshire), Brad ...

. The duchess then expanded Seend Green House (later Seend Park), which had belonged to her grandfather, John Somner (or Sumner). She died on 1 February 1768, aged 70, and was buried at Seend. Her will is held in the National Archives at Kew.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerset, Mary Seymour, Duchess of 1697 births 1768 deaths English duchesses by marriage People from Wiltshire