Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset

Jane Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Sheridan; 5 November 1809 – 14 December 1884), was the wife of Edward, Duke of Somerset.

Life

Jane Georgiana Sheridan was the third daughter of Thomas Sheridan and his wife the novelist Caroline Callander, daughter of Sir James Callander of Craigforth and Ardkinglas. She was the younger sister of Helen Lady Dufferin, songwriter, composer, poet, and author, and Caroline Norton, society beauty, feminist, social reformer, and author. Georgiana, Helen, and Caroline were the granddaughters of Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Known for her loveliness, the Duchess was chosen to be the "Queen of Beauty" at the Eglinton Tournament in 1839.

She married Duke Edward in 1830, when he was twenty-five and she was twenty. They had two sons and three daughters:

• Edward Adolphus Ferdinand, Earl St. Maur (1835 - 1869), had two illegitimate children by his maid. The son Harold claimed he was legitimate and, after his father's death, declared himself heir to the Dukedom of Somerset
• Lord Edward Percy Seymour (1841 - 1865), diplomat, unmarried and without issue; died in India after being mauled by a bear
• Lady Jane Hermione Seymour (1832 - 1909), married Sir Frederick Graham (1820 – 1888), and had issue (the Countess of Verulam and the Duchess of Montrose)
• Lady Ulrica Frederica Jane Seymour (1833 - 1916), married Lord Henry Thynne (1832 - 1904)
• Lady Helen Guendolen Seymour (1846 - 1910), married Sir John Ramsden (1831 – 1914)

The Duchess was survived by her husband by less than a year. She is interred at Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire.