styled 1640-71 Ld. John Seymour; suc. nephew 12 Dec. 1671 as 4th duke of SOMERSET
First sat 10 Feb. 1673; last sat 10 Feb. 1673
b. c.1633, 5th but o. surv. s. of William Seymour, 2nd duke of Somerset, and 2nd w. Frances Devereux (d. 1674), da. of Robert Devereux†, 2nd earl of Essex. educ. travelled abroad 1653–5; G. Inn 1666, bencher 1667. m. 5 Dec. 1661 (with £10,000), Sarah (d.1692), da. and coh. of Sir Edward Alston, FRCP, of Great St Helens, London, wid. of George Grimston of Gormanbury, Herts., s.p. d. 29 Apr. 1675; will 17 June 1674, pr. 14 Dec. 1676.1
Ld. lt. and custos rot. Som. 1672–d.; ld. lt. Wilts. 1672–d.; recorder, Lichfield 1672–d.
Associated with: Amesbury House, Amesbury, Wilts.; Essex House, London; Gray’s Inn, London.
Likenesses: oil on canvas by Sir P. Lely, Salisbury Guildhall; oil on canvas, St John’s, Cambridge.
Seymour’s prospects after the Restoration were conditioned by the death of his father, now newly restored to the Somerset dukedom, in October 1660. The dukedom then went to Seymour’s nephew, William Seymour, 3rd duke of Somerset, who came under the guardianship of his mother, Lady Mary (d.1715). In 1657 she had taken a second husband, Henry Somerset, styled Lord Herbert, the future duke of Beaufort. Seymour’s father had provided for him in his will, intending to devise on him the manor of Midgehall in Lydiard Tregoze. However, that estate was held by the widow of his uncle Henry Seymour, styled Lord Beauchamp (d. 1618), as part of her jointure and it was also ‘estated’ out for the life of one of the Pleydells. In the interim Lord John was to receive £600 per year in maintenance, together with the £200 allowed for in an indenture of 13 Nov. 1652. All this was intended to supply his portion of £10,000.2 Seymour was thus dependent on the trustees of his father’s will, especially his mother as the executrix and there were many other calls upon the estate, particularly the payment of family debts.3
Seymour was returned for Marlborough in 1661, following a last-ditch effort by one of his father’s trustees, Amos Walrond‡, having been recommended by his mother and his uncle Francis Seymour, Baron Seymour of Trowbridge.4 While in the Commons Seymour was a court supporter. In December of that year he married Sarah Alston, a wealthy widow. A marriage portion of £10,000 was agreed but the money was received by Seymour’s mother ‘for her own use’. In a pre-nuptial agreement of 20 Nov. 1661 the dowager duchess agreed to pay a total of £800 annually to the couple, with £300 of that to be paid directly to Seymour’s new wife. In January 1662 a further agreement settled a jointure on Sarah consisting of lands in Herefordshire and in County Monaghan in Ireland, worth £1,500 per year.5
Marriage did not solve Seymour’s financial difficulties and in December 1663 he petitioned the lord chancellor, Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, concerning a chancery case against his nephew Somerset and Somerset’s guardians, Lord and Lady Herbert, wherein he had attempted to have the reversion of the manor of Midgehall settled upon him, and for his £600 a year maintenance. The delay in settling the case had led to him being ‘deprived of his only subsistence and debarred his liberty for want of money to pay his creditors’.6 Nothing seems to have come of this attempt to enforce payment of his annuity as one of his father’s trustees, the lord keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman‡, writing to Lady Herbert on 6 Jan. 1666, described Seymour’s ‘condition’ as
very sad, having not one farthing but what the portion which his lady brought to him, and nothing out of his father’s estate. There is now behind to him about £4,000 for his annuity and legacy of £1,000. His debts do so pinch him that he is a continual prisoner and a close one to his chamber whilst the privilege of Parliament protects him.
It seemed that Midgehall might have to be sold as soon as it came into his possession.7
Seymour’s situation worsened when the dowager duchess ‘refused on a quarrel’ to pay him the £600 a year left him by his father, and ‘turned him out of her house’, whereupon, as his wife later alleged, she took lodgings on the fourth floor of Gray’s Inn, and ‘after ten years’ care, paid off the debts, except £1,000 lost by him at play’.8 It was common knowledge that during this time the couple were avoiding their creditors and, while protected by the privilege of Parliament during sessions, Seymour was confined to his lodgings during recesses. His situation was transformed by his wife’s careful management, aided no doubt by her improved financial situation following the death of her father in 1669. Further, Seymour succeeded unexpectedly to the Somerset peerage in December 1671 on the death of his nephew, whereby he came into a substantial inheritance; one document in 1672 listed his rent from land, tenements and tithes in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset at over £1,325 per annum.9
Contemporaries seemed to have been underwhelmed by the new duke: Sir Ralph Verney‡ merely noted him as ‘a man whose person is as mean as his parts’.10 The same point was made by Thomas Henshaw, who added that he was ‘never like to have children’.11 Local office followed his elevation to the peerage. In the case of the lieutenancy of Wiltshire in August 1672 this was the result of the appointment of Arthur Capell, earl of Essex to the lieutenancy of Ireland.12
In October 1672 Lady Mary Hastings reported that Somerset and his wife ‘are parted and (as ’tis feared) irreconcilably. He discovers very much his own weakness by making public to the world all the quarrels that have passed between them and many weak complaints, too long to relate.’13 This led to a petition to the king from the duchess in November asking him to interpose with her husband to allow her maintenance, since he would not cohabit with her, and ‘having lived in a condition below her rank to assist in paying off his debts, but of late he has, by evil instigation, refused to live with her, or to allow her to enter his houses, leaving her destitute of apparel, meat, drink, and maintenance’. Somerset had apparently offered her the £600 a year she was entitled to by her marriage settlement, plus an additional £400, which she thought not ‘suitable to his condition and her fortune’.14 Perhaps not surprisingly, by December 1672 he was being referred to as the ‘mad duke of Somerset’.15
A writ of summons was issued to the new duke on 5 Feb. 1673.16 Somerset attended the Lords for the only time on 10 Feb., the lord treasurer, Thomas Clifford, Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, promptly securing his proxy on that day. On the previous day, Somerset had sent instructions to his three brothers-in-law, Heneage Finch, 3rd earl of Winchilsea, Charles Boyle, the future 2nd Baron Clifford of Lanesborough, and Conyers Darcy, the future 2nd earl of Holdernesse, who were deputed to appear for him on the 12th to negotiate a separation agreement with the lord chancellor, Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, Henry Bennet, earl of Arlington, and Lord Treasurer Clifford. Somerset seemed prepared to grant his wife an allowance of £1,000 per year on certain conditions. On 16 Mar. 1673 he wrote to thank Winchilsea for his ‘care on this my concern with my wife’. A further letter sent on 25 Apr. hoped that agreement had been reached.17 It was probably as part of this agreement that in 1673 Somerset confirmed that the £1,500 settled by his mother on his wife in Herefordshire and Ulster, until Midgehall became his, was now to be altered and a jointure of £2,500 settled on her instead.18
Somerset gained little by the death of his mother in April 1674, as the estate at her disposal went primarily to Thomas Thynne, the future Viscount Weymouth and husband of her granddaughter Lady Frances Finch. In a codicil written a few days before her death, Drayton manor was conveyed to Somerset for £10,000, not the £12,000 originally intended. Estates in Ireland and Herefordshire were settled on him, but these may have been contested as they had originally been part of the current duchess’s jointure, even though the duke had claimed he had exchanged these following his accession to the dukedom and only upon her death in 1692 did Sir Edward Harley‡ note that Weymouth had thereby become ‘a great lord in Herefordshire’.19
Somerset was clearly not well. George Johnson‡ reported that he had left the duke’s on 12 Mar. 1675, at which time he did not think him ‘in a dangerous condition’. The recipient of his letter, Worcester (the former Lady Herbert), was clearly concerned that Somerset would alter his will to favour the heir to the dukedom, Francis Seymour, 3rd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge.20 Somerset was noted as ‘sick’ on 1 Apr. 1675.21 On 28 Apr. he registered a proxy in favour of Winchilsea, but he died the following day. He was buried on 10 June in Salisbury Cathedral.
On 30 Apr. 1675 Johnson reported Somerset’s death to Worcester (as Herbert had since become), ‘having his will in my study in the country’, adding that ‘I conceive it is for my Lady Elizabeth [Seymour], to take care about the funeral she being the duke’s heir at law’, being his niece.22 A slight panic ensued on 4 May that Somerset might have ‘made another will about two or three days before he died giving all his estate to Lord Clifford [of Lanesborough]’, the husband of his sister Jane. Worcester was informed that ‘Lord Clifford denies it and I am informed he was not compos mentis since the first fit of apoplexy’.23 There were rumours of a will in which Henry Hare‡, 2nd Baron Coleraine [I], was named as executor. Coleraine subsequently denied it.24
Somerset bequeathed annuities of £1,000 each to his nephew Heneage Finch, the future 5th earl of Winchilsea, and his sisters Frances Wriothesley, dowager countess of Southampton, and Jane, Lady Clifford. He also left £3,000 to the poor children of Sarum, to be administered by his friends Sir Thomas Mompesson‡ and Sir Richard Howe‡. Howe had been backed by Somerset in the contest for knight of the shire for Wiltshire caused by the accession of Henry Hyde as 2nd earl of Clarendon in 1674.25 In 1694 the chamberlain of Salisbury was ordered to procure the duke’s picture, he ‘having been a worthy benefactor to the poor of this city’.26 Somerset’s lands at Wolfhall, Sudden Park, Savernake Forest, Easton Wootton and Little and Great Bedwyn were bequeathed to Baron Seymour. His wife was not mentioned in the will, all his jewels, plate and household goods being left to his mistress, Eleanor Oldfield. His executors were James Montagu of Lackham (father of James Montagu‡), Alexander Thistlewayte‡ of Winterslow, Albertus Oldfield of Westminster and Johnson.
According to one contemporary, Somerset left Eleanor Oldfield property worth £20,000 pounds.27 She certainly benefited by being given property in Amesbury, which had been part of the jointure of Somerset’s mother.28 Several people were interested in obtaining this from her. On 8 May 1675 Winchilsea wrote to the lord treasurer, Thomas Osborne, earl of Danby (later duke of Leeds), to ask him to approach Johnson to use his interest with ‘the woman’ to whom Somerset gave Amesbury, so that he had the first refusal in case she decided to sell.29 James Montagu suggested that Eleanor Oldfield be advised not to part with Amesbury, ‘if it should prove hers’, except to Lady Elizabeth Seymour, and on 3 June Thomas Brunsden reported that Worcester had purchased Amesbury for his step-daughter for just over £3,500.30 It was later claimed by the marchioness of Worcester that she had used her husband’s influence with George Johnson to exploit a mistake in the will and ensure that most of Somerset’s property fell to her daughter, as the heir-at-law.31 Lady Elizabeth was now ‘a great fortune’ and on 31 Aug. 1676 married Thomas Bruce, the future 2nd earl of Ailesbury.32 She subsequently came into conflict with her mother over the estate.33
In March 1676 it was suggested that Somerset’s widow would marry Sir Edward Hungerford‡, when it was noted that she had £8,000–9,000 per annum, ‘which troubles them that thought to have that estate between Lady Clifford and Lady Southampton’.34 In fact, in July 1682 she married Coleraine.35 Apart from various philanthropic bequests, she gave two manors in Somerset to Charles Seymour, 6th duke of Somerset, ‘out of regard for supporting the dukedom of Somerset’.36
A.C./S.N.H.- 1 TNA, PROB 11/351.
- 2 PROB 11/302 (William Seymour, duke of Somerset).
- 3 Bath mss at Longleat, Seymour pprs. 6, ff. 229–44.
- 4 WSHC, Ailesbury mss 1300/224–6; Add. 32324, ff. 75–76.
- 5 WSHC, Ailesbury mss 1300/298.
- 6 HMC 15th Rep. VII, 172.
- 7 Ibid. 174; WSHC, Ailesbury mss 1300/231.
- 8 CSP Dom. 1672–3, p. 194; Verney, ms mic. M636/24, Sir R. to E. Verney, 14 Dec. 1671.
- 9 Bath mss at Longleat, Seymour pprs. 5, f. 284.
- 10 Verney ms mic. M636/24, Sir R. to E. Verney, 14 Dec. 1671.
- 11 HMC 6th Rep. 368.
- 12 Bulstrode Pprs. 244.
- 13 HMC Hastings, ii. 159.
- 14 CSP Dom. 1672–3, pp. 193–5.
- 15 HMC 7th Rep. 464.
- 16 HMC 9th Rep. pt. 1, p. 19.
- 17 Bath mss at Longleat, Seymour pprs. 6, ff. 161, 163, 165.
- 18 Ibid. 4, f. 130.
- 19 A. Daley Briscoe, A Stuart Benefactress: Sarah, Duchess of Somerset, 105–6, 111; Bath mss at Longleat, Seymour pprs. 4, f. 130; Add. 70234, Sir E. to R. Harley, 1 Nov. 1692.
- 20 HMC 15th Rep. VII, 176.
- 21 HMC 7th Rep. 464.
- 22 HMC 15th Rep. VII, 176.
- 23 Ibid. 176.
- 24 WSHC, Ailesbury mss 1300/265; 1300/268.
- 25 Bath mss at Longleat, Thynne pprs. 12, f. 25.
- 26 HMC Var. iv. 251.
- 27 HMC 7th Rep. 465.
- 28 WSHC, Savernake estate, 9/1/55; 9/31/7–8.
- 29 Eg. 3329, f. 18.
- 30 WSHC, Ailesbury mss 1300/268; HMC 15th Rep. VII, 176; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xcvi. 101.
- 31 M. McClain, Beaufort: The Duke and His Duchess, 113–15.
- 32 Verney ms mic. 636/29, J. to Sir R. Verney, 16 Mar. 1675/6.
- 33 Wilts. Arch. Mag. xcvi. 98–110.
- 34 Verney ms mic. 636/29, C. Gardiner to Sir R. Verney, 22 Mar. 1676.
- 35 HMC 7th Rep. 497.
- 36 Daley Briscoe, Stuart Benefactress, 176.