Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset

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Edward Adolphus Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset, KG, PC (20 December 1805 – 28 November 1885) was a British Whig aristocrat and politician, who served in various cabinet positions in the mid-19th century.

He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, and from 1830 till he succeeded to the peerage in 1855 he was a Liberal member of the House of Commons as Lord Seymour, first for Okehampton, and afterwards for Totnes. He held various offices in Lord Melbourne’s administration from 1835 to 1841; was a member of Lord John Russell’s cabinet in 1851; and First Lord of the Admiralty from 1859 to 1866. In 1863 he was created Earl St Maur of Berry Pomeroy. He refused to join William Ewart Gladstone’s ministry in 1868, but he gave independent support to the chief measures of the government. He died in November 1885.

In 1830, while still Lord Seymour, he married Georgiana Sheridan, the younger sister of author Caroline Norton and grand-daughter of playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Known for her loveliness, she was chosen to be the “Queen of Beauty” at the Eglinton Tournament in 1839. The duke was the author of Christian Theology and Modern Scepticism (1872), and Monarchy and Democracy (1880). As his two sons both died unmarried in his lifetime, the family titles, except the earldom of St Maur, which became extinct, devolved on his two brothers successively. The title of Earl St Maur was granted to the 12th duke in 1863. "St Maur" was supposed to have been the original form of the family name of which Seymour was a later corruption. From some time in the early 19th century until 1923, "St Maur" was used for the family name. Since 1923 the dukes have again used the familiar "Seymour".

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Compton Domvile Joseph Strutt	Member of Parliament for Okehampton with George Agar-Ellis 1830–1831	Succeeded by William Trant John Hope
Preceded by James Cornish Jasper Parrott	Member of Parliament for Totnes with Jasper Parrott 1834-1839 Charles Baldwin 1839-1852 Thomas Mills 1852-1855 1834–1855	Succeeded by Thomas Mills The Earl of Gifford
Political offices
Preceded by: The Earl of Carlisle	First Commissioner of Woods and Forests 1850–1851	First Commissioner of Works
First Commissioner of Woods and Forests	First Commissioner of Works 1851–1852	Succeeded by: The Lord John Manners
Preceded by Sir John Pakington, Bt	First Lord of the Admiralty 1859–1866	Succeeded by Sir John Pakington, Bt
Honorary Titles
Preceded by The Earl Fortescue	Lord Lieutenant of Devon 1861–1885	Succeeded by The Earl of Iddesleigh
Peerage of England
Preceded by Edward St Maur	Duke of Somerset 1855–1885	Succeeded by Archibald Seymour
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by (new creation)	Earl St Maur 1863–1885	Succeeded by (extinct)