b. 1802-12-03
d. 1887-02-23
Rear Admiral Michael Seymour was born on 3 December 1802. After studying at the Royal
Naval College at Portsmouth, he joined active service with the Royal Navy, travelling
to the Mediterranean, Algiers, South America, and the eastern Pacific.
He was promoted lieutenant on 12 September 1822 and commander on 6 December 1824,
and he served as flag-captain on various ships from 1841 to 1848. In 1854, Seymour
became captain of the fleet in the Baltic; on 27 May 1854 he was promoted rear-admiral.
In 1856, he took command of the China Station, and at the end of his three-year term
in 1859 he was nominated a GCB.
He represented Devonport in Parliament from 1859 to 1863, then served as commander
in chief at Portsmouth from March 1863 to March 1866. Retiring in 1870, Seymour became
vice admiral of the United Kingdom in 1875. He died at his home in Hampshire on 23
February 1887.
- 1. J. K. Laughton and Andrew Lambert, Seymour, Sir Michael, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- 2. Ibid.
- 3. Ibid.