Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, GCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 (3 December 1802 – 23 February 1887), was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth

The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Portsmouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the post.-History:...

.

Naval career

Born the third son of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, 1st Baronet

Sir Michael Seymour, 1st Baronet

Sir Michael Seymour, 1st Baronet KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Rear-Admiral.-Family and early life:...

, Michael Seymour entered the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1813. He was made Lieutenant in 1822, Commander in 1824 and was posted Captain in 1826. From 1833 to 1835 he was captain of the survey ship HMS Challenger, and was wrecked in her off the coast of Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. In 1841 he was given command of HMS Britannia

HMS Britannia (1820)

HMS Britannia was a 120-gun first-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1813 and launched on 20 October 1820.Commissioned in 1823, she saw service in the Mediterranean from 1830-1 and in 1841...

 and then of HMS Powerful

HMS Powerful (1826)

HMS Powerful was an 84-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 21 June 1826 at Chatham Dockyard.From 1 January 1839 to the end of 1840 she was commanded by Captain Charles Napier, mainly in the Mediterranean and for much of the time as lead ship of a detached squadron under...

. In 1845 he took over HMS Vindictive

HMS Vindictive (1813)

HMS Vindictive was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 30 November 1813 at Portsmouth.Vindictive was the lead ship of the 40-vessel Vengeur class, indeed she was ordered prior to the design for this class being finalised; however she was delayed in construction and...

.

From 1851 to 1854 he was Commodore Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

. In 1854 he served under Sir Charles Napier in the Baltic

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 during the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral that same year and, when the Baltic campaign was resumed in 1855 under Admiral the Hon. Richard Dundas

Richard Saunders Dundas

Vice Admiral The Hon. Sir Richard Saunders Dundas, KCB was a British naval officer and was the British First Sea Lord from 1857 to 1858 and again from 1859 until his death in 1861.-Early life:...

, Seymour was second in command.

On 19 February 1856 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the East Indies and China Station

East Indies and China Station

The East Indies and China Station was a formation of the British Royal Navy from 1831 to 1865.-History:The Station was formed in 1831; it ceased to exist when it was separated into the East Indies Station and the China Station in 1865. Its area covered the Indian Ocean and the coasts of China and...

. Flying his flag in HMS Calcutta

HMS Calcutta (1831)

HMS Calcutta was an 84-gun second-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, built in teak to a draught by Sir Robert Seppings and launched on 14 March 1831 in Bombay. She was the only ship ever built to her draught. She carried her complement of smooth-bore, muzzle-loading guns on two gundecks...

, he conducted operations arising from the attack on the British Coaster Arrow, helped destroy the Chinese fleet

Battle of Fatshan Creek

The Battle of Fatshan Creek was a naval engagement fought between the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and Chinese pirates on June 1, 1857. Commodore Henry Keppel sought out and destroyed the Chinese fleet before advancing to the city of Canton for its capture....

 in June 1857, took Canton

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

 in December, and in 1858 he captured the forts on the Baihe (Hai River)

Battle of Taku Forts (1858)

The First Battle of Taku Forts on May 20, 1858 was an engagement of the Second Opium War. The British and French sent a squadron of gunboats, under Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, to attack China's Taku Forts. The battle ended as an allied success...

, compelling the Chinese government to consent to the Treaties of Tianjin. He was made GCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 in 1859. He sat as a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Devonport from 1859 to 1863. In 1863 he was made Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth

The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Portsmouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the post.-History:...

, a post he held until 1866. He retired in 1870.

Family

In 1829 he married Dorothy Knighton: they had a son and three daughters. He was the uncle of Sir Edward Hobart Seymour

Edward Hobart Seymour

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Hobart Seymour, GCB, OM, GCVO , was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief, China Station.- Early life :...

, also an admiral.

External links

|-
|-
|-