Edward Adolphus Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset (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 Jane Georgiana Sheridan, who was the “Queen of Beauty” at the famous 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 adopted by the 12th duke in 1863 is said to have been the original form of the family name of which Seymour was a later corruption, and since the last mentioned date it has been assumed as the family surname of the Dukes of Somerset.

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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