Sir Michael Seymour
Portrait of Admiral Seymour
Born3 December 1802 (1802-12-03)
Died23 February 1887 (1887-02-24) (aged 84)
Horndean, Hampshire, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1813–1870
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Challenger
HMS Britannia
HMS Powerful
HMS Vindictive
China Station
Portsmouth Command
Battles/warsCrimean War
Second Opium War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, GCB (3 December 1802 – 23 February 1887) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.

Born the third son of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, 1st Baronet,[1] Michael Seymour entered the Royal Navy in 1813.[1] He was made lieutenant in 1822, commander in 1824 and was posted captain in 1826.[1] From 1833 to 1835 he was captain of the survey ship HMS Challenger, and was wrecked in her off the coast of Chile.[1] In 1841 he was given command of HMS Britannia and then of HMS Powerful.[1] In 1845 he took over HMS Vindictive.[1]

From 1851 to 1854 he was Commodore Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard.[1] In 1854 he served under Sir Charles Napier in the Baltic during the Crimean War.[1] He was promoted to Rear-Admiral that same year and, when the Baltic campaign was resumed in 1855 under Admiral the Hon. Richard Dundas, Seymour was second in command.[1]

On 19 February 1856 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the East Indies and China Station.[1] Flying his flag in HMS Calcutta,[1] he conducted operations arising from the attack on the British coaster Arrow.[1] During the Arrow War in China, he commanded the Battle of the Bogue in November 1856, helped destroy the Chinese fleet in the Battle of Fatshan Creek in June 1857,[1] captured Canton in December,[1] and in 1858 he captured the forts on the Baihe (Hai River),[1] compelling the Chinese government to consent to the Treaty of Tientsin.[1] He was made GCB in 1859.[1] He sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Devonport from 1859 to 1863.[1] In 1863 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, a post he held until 1866.[1] He retired in 1870.[1]

Seymour Road in Hong Kong Island was named after him.

Family

In 1829 he married Dorothy Knighton: they had a son and three daughters.[1] He was the uncle of Sir Edward Hobart Seymour, also a British admiral.

Art work

Further reading

  • Narbeth, Colin (1980), Admiral Seymour's Expedition & Taku Forts 1900, Picton Publishing
  • O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Seymour, Michael" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Laughton, J. K.. "Seymour, Sir Michael (1802–1887)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004 ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25178.
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