mental diseases during the preceding twenty-five years. On 17 June 1841 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society; he was also a fellow of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, and a member of the Royal Medical and Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, and of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Science of Siena.
Seymour died at his residence, 13 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, on 16 April 1866, from organic disease of the stomach and liver. There is a slightly coloured lithograph of him, executed by Slater, about 1830, and a bust in wax, by Foley, which was to have been reproduced in marble. Both portrait and bust are in the possession of the Rev. Edward Seymour at Bratton Clovelly parsonage. On 4 Sept. 1817 he married Maria Searancke of Clapton, and by her had a family of six sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Lieutenant-colonel Charles Frederick Seymour, C.B., of the 84th regiment, was acting adjutant-general at the siege of Lucknow.
Seymour was an accomplished man outside the range of his professional practice. His works possess considerable literary merit. The chief are:
- ‘Diseases of the Ovaria’ (with a volume of plates), 1830.
- ‘Observations on the Medical Treatment of Insanity,’ 1832.
- ‘Nature and Treatment of Dropsy,’ 1837.
- ‘Thoughts on the Treatment of several severe Diseases of the Human Body,’ 1847.
He also published: ‘On Tumours in the Abdomen’ (‘Trans. Med. Chir. Soc.,’ vol. xiii.); ‘On some of the Diseases of the Stomach’ (‘Med. Gaz.,’ vol. i.); and a series of papers ‘On the specific Effect of Atmospheric Poison in the Production of Fever’ (‘Med. Gaz.,’ vols. iii.–iv.).
[Proceedings of Med. Chirurgical Soc. 1867, v. 251; Munk's Coll. of Phys.; Churchill's Directory; Lancet, 1866; Medical Times and Gazette, 1866; information supplied by his son, the Rev. Edward Seymour, rector of Bratton Clovelly, Devonshire.]
SEYMOUR, FRANCIS, first Baron Seymour of Trowbridge (1590?–1664), born about 1590, was the third son of Edward Seymour, lord Beauchamp (1561–1612), by his wife Honora, daughter of Sir Richard Rogers of Bryanstone, Dorset. Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford [q. v.], was his grandfather. William Seymour, second duke of Somerset [q. v.], was his eldest brother. Francis was knighted by James I at Royston on 23 Oct. 1613. In June 1611 he was accused of abetting the escape of his brother William and Arabella Stuart, but protested his innocence (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1611–1618, p. 39). On 26 Dec. 1620 he entered parliament as member for Wiltshire. In the following May he distinguished himself by the severity of the penalties he proposed to inflict on Edward Floyd [q. v.] During the session of 1624 he made strenuous efforts to bring about a war with Spain, but protested against any extensive military operations on the continent, and opposed the despatch of an army to the Palatinate on the ground of the ‘extreme charge’ (Gardiner, v. 342, 345; Seeley, British Policy, i. 336). On 10 May 1625 he was again returned for Wiltshire, and on 30 July following proposed to limit the grant to one subsidy and one-fifteenth, about a tenth of what Charles required to meet his engagements. Buckingham made overtures to him which were rejected, and in July Seymour refused to join in the attack on Lord-keeper Williams because it was secretly abetted by the duke. In August he attacked the government for engaging in a continental war, inveighing against peculation in high places and the sale of offices at court; on these grounds he dissuaded the house from granting supplies. He was re-elected to the new parliament summoned in February 1625–6, but was made sheriff of Wiltshire to prevent his sitting. In the following July his name was struck off the commission of the peace.
Thenceforth Seymour adhered to Wentworth's policy of moderation. In March 1627–8 he was elected to parliament as member both for Wiltshire and Marlborough. On 29 April he joined Noy and Digges in their attempt to modify the commons' bill of liberties, and supported Wentworth's Habeas Corpus Bill. He also advocated with Wentworth against Eliot a joint-committee of the two houses on the petition of right. The proposal made by the lords was rejected by the commons. In May 1639 he refused to pay ship-money, and in the following March was elected without opposition member for Wiltshire to the Short parliament. He was re-elected for the same constituency to the Long parliament. In April 1640 he spoke against ecclesiastical grievances, and in November he again attacked the government. But he soon began to differ from the popular party, and on 19 Feb. 1640–1 he was created Baron Seymour of Trowbridge, Wiltshire. He insisted on voting against Strafford's attainder in the lords, though the opposite party denied his competence to vote on the ground that he was not a peer when the charges against Strafford were first brought up. In June 1642 he signed the declaration that the king had no intention of war, followed him to York, and offered to raise twenty horse in
