John Seymour, 19th Duke of Somerset

John Michael Edward Seymour, 19th Duke of Somerset, DL FRICS (born 30 December 1952), styled Lord Seymour between 1954 and 1984, is a British aristocratic landowner in Wiltshire and Devon, and a member of the House of Lords.

Life

Educated at Hawtreys and Eton College, he qualified as a chartered surveyor before succeeding to the dukedom in 1984 on the death of his father. Having lost his seat in the House of Lords under the House of Lords Act 1999, he was elected at the December 2014 House of Lords By-election, to sit as a Crossbencher in the Upper House.

The Duke's principal seat is Bradley House, Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, and he also owns Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon.

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Wiltshire in 1993 and for Devon in 2003.

Family

The present Duke is the son of Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset, and Jane, Dowager Duchess of Somerset (née Thomas, died 2005). His paternal grandmother, Edith Mary Parker, was a daughter of William Parker and Lucinda Steeves, daughter of William Steeves, one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation.

He married at All Saints' Church, Maiden Bradley, on 20 May 1978, Judith-Rose Hull, daughter of John Folliott Hull; the Duke and Duchess have four children:

• Sebastian Edward, Lord Seymour (b. Queen Charlotte's Hospital, London, 3 February 1982), m. 27 Aug 2006 Arlette Marie Léontine, daughter of Daniel Lafayeedney, of La Grasse, France divorced 2011
• Lady Sophia Rose Seymour (b. 1987)
• Lady Henrietta Charlotte Seymour (b. 1989)
• Lord Charles Thomas George Seymour (b. 1992).

Controversy

In 2015 the Duke was involved in a dispute over a plan to build housing on ancestral land he owns at Totnes, Devon.

Titles, styles and arms

Titles and styles

• 30 December 1952 - 26 April 1954: The Honourable John Seymour
• 26 April 1954 - 15 November 1984: Lord Seymour
• 15 November 1984 - present: His Grace The Duke of Somerset

Arms

Ancestry