His Grace
The Duke of Somerset
FRICS DL
Member of the House of Lords
as a hereditary peer
15 November 1984 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 18th Duke of Somerset
Succeeded bySeat abolished
as an elected hereditary peer
12 December 2014
By-election12 December 2014
Preceded byThe 2nd Baron Cobbold
Personal details
Born
John Michael Edward Seymour

(1952-12-30) 30 December 1952
Bath, Somerset, England
Spouse
Judith-Rose Hull
​
(m. 1978)​
ChildrenSebastian Seymour, Lord Seymour
Lady Sophia Seymour
Lady Henrietta Seymour
Lord Charles Seymour
Parent(s)Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset
Jane Thomas
Residence(s)Maiden Bradley House, Wiltshire
ProfessionFRICS
Known forLandowning, membership of the House of Lords
AwardsDL
Other titlesBaron Seymour
Websitesomersetestates.co.uk

John Michael Edward Seymour, 19th Duke of Somerset FRICS DL (born 30 December 1952), styled Lord Seymour between 1954 and 1984, is a British aristocratic landowner in Wiltshire and Devon, and a member of the House of Lords.

Early life

The Duke is the son of Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset, and Jane née Thomas (died 2005). His paternal grandmother, Edith Mary Parker, was a daughter of William Parker and Lucinda Steeves (a daughter of William Steeves, one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation).[1]

He was educated at Hawtreys and Eton College.[2]

Career

Seymour qualified as a chartered surveyor[2] before succeeding to the dukedom in 1984 on the death of his father.[3] Having lost his seat in the House of Lords under the House of Lords Act 1999, he was elected at the December 2014 House of Lords by-elections,[4] to sit as a crossbencher.[5]

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Wiltshire in 1993[6] and for Devon in 2003.[7]

In 2015, the Duke was involved in a dispute over a plan to build housing on ancestral land he owns at Totnes, Devon.[8]

Personal life

On 20 May 1978, Lord Seymour married Judith-Rose Hull, daughter of John Folliott Hull, at All Saints' Church, Maiden Bradley. Together, the Duke and Duchess have four children:[1]

  • Sebastian Edward, Lord Seymour (b. 1982), who married Arlette Marie Léontine, a daughter of Daniel Lafayeedney (né Daniel Edney),[9][lower-alpha 1]) on 27 August 2006. They divorced in 2011.
  • Lady Sophia Rose Seymour (b. 1987)[1]
  • Lady Henrietta Charlotte Seymour (b. 1989)[1]
  • Lord Charles Thomas George Seymour (b. 1992).[1]

The Duke's principal seat is Bradley House, Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire,[10] and he also owns Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon. The Duke and his wife are patrons and official hosts of the Queen Charlotte's Ball.[11]

He was a patron of UKIP in the early 2000s.[12][13]

Arms

Coat of arms of John Seymour, 19th Duke of Somerset
Coronet
A Coronet of a Duke
Crest
Out of a Coronet Or a Phoenix of the Last issuing from Flames Proper
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Or on a Pile Gules between six Fleurs-de-Lis Azure three Lions of England (being the Augmentation of Honour granted by King Henry VIII on his marriage with Jane Seymour); 2nd and 3rd, Gules two Wings joined in lure the tips downwards Or (Seymour)
Supporters
Dexter: a Unicorn Argent armed maned and tufted Or gorged with a Coronet per pale Azure and Or to which is affixed a Chain of the Last; Sinister: a Bull Azure gorged with a Coronet chained hoofed and armed Or
Motto
FOY POUR DEVOIR
Medieval French for: FAITH FOR DUTY

Family tree

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Mosley, Charles (ed.) (2003). Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 107th edn. London: Burke's Peerage & Gentry Ltd. p. 3678 (SOMERSET, D). ISBN 0-9711966-2-1. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  2. 1 2 www.rics.org
  3. ↑ 'SOMERSET, 19th Duke of', in Who's Who 2012 (A. & C. Black, 2012); online edition (subscription required) by Oxford University Press, December 2011, accessed 8 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Crossbench Hereditary Peers' By-Election, December 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  5. ↑ www.parliament.uk
  6. ↑ "www.wiltshire.gov.uk". Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  7. ↑ www.lordlieutenantofdevon.org.uk
  8. ↑ "Totnes' Great Court Farm plans get the go-ahead despite demo". Torquay Herald Express. 14 January 2015. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  9. 1 2 Paul McKeigue, David Miller, Jake Mason, Piers Robinson, "Briefing note on the Integrity Initiative" – Working Group on Syria Propaganda and Media, fdik.org, 21 December 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  10. ↑ "bradleyhouse.org". Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Smith, Julia Llewellyn (September 2013). "Why today's 'debutantes' are having a ball again".
  12. ↑ Wintour, Patrick (30 April 2001). "Football tycoon joins and funds anti-EU party". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  13. ↑ Johnson, Frank (19 June 2004). "Notebook". The Telegraph.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 13. Daniel Lafayeedney: "It appears that his surname was originally Edney, and that he took the middle name Lafaye on marriage to his first wife Regine Lafaye, some time before October 1978 when as Daniel Lafaye Edney aged 32 years, he was commissioned into the Territorial Reserve Special Air Service Regiment, Group A (23 SAS) as 2nd Lt. on probation. 19 months later, still holding the rank of 2nd Lt on probation and now known as Daniel Lafaye-Edney, he resigned his commission."[9]
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