SEYMOUR, Charles (1621-65), of Allington and Marlborough, Wilts.

Charles Seymour, the only son of Sir Francis Seymour* (later 1st Baron Seymour of Trowbridge) was married into a local Wiltshire family at the age of 11, and was subsequently educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was barely 19 at the time of the Short Parliament elections for Great Bedwyn on 31 March 1640.16C219/42, unfol. Seymour owed his return to his uncle, the 2nd earl of Hertford, who was patron of the borough. He polled in second place behind Hertford’s client, Richard Harding*, receiving 31 votes to Harding’s 52.17Aston’s Diary, 146-7. The validity of the return was questioned before the committee of privileges, but as the committee remained undecided when the matter was reported to the Commons on 28 April, the House resolved that Seymour and Harding would continue to sit.18Aston’s Diary, 78; CJ ii. 15a. There is no evidence that Seymour took his seat during the few remaining days of the Parliament and he did not seek re-election for the Long Parliament in the autumn.

Seymour shared the royalist allegiances of his family and during the first civil war was appointed to investigate and sequester parliamentarians in Wiltshire. He later claimed to have attended only one meeting of the sequestration committee before leaving for Oxford, and this was supported by sympathetic locals, who certified that he had ‘behaved himself very nobly, friendly and lovingly amongst us’ while residing at Allington.19Black, Docquets, 103, 222; SP23/191, ff. 787, 779-95. In September 1646 Seymour compounded for his delinquency with his father under the Oxford Articles. They were duly fined £3,725 and the sequestration of the estate was lifted in December 1647.20CJ v. 391a-b, 414a; CCC 166, 1507. In the early weeks of 1656 Seymour and his father applied to Oliver Cromwell* for exemption from the decimation tax levied on former royalists, and initially seem to have received a favourable response, although in May of that year the matter was referred back to the major-general and the Wiltshire commissioners, who were less convinced of the family’s political neutrality.21TSP iv. 609-10; CCC 1507. The protectoral government seem to have remained confident that Seymour and his father were not a threat, however, and in April 1658 they were given leave to spend a month in London to recover their health.22CSP Dom. 1657-8, p. 554. The restoration of the monarchy saw Seymour’s appointment to local commissions and as colonel of militia foot. He was also returned to Parliament as a county member in 1661 but played little part in the business of the House.23HP Commons 1660-90 iii. 411.

Seymour died on 25 Aug 1665, little more than a year after succeeding his father as 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge, and was buried at Trowbridge on 7 September.24Col. Top. et Gen. v. 346-7; CP.; Collins Peerage (1812) i. 183. In his will, drafted just before his death, he gave his wife an annuity and provided allowances for his younger children, who were each to receive cash sums of £4,000 on reaching the age of 21 or marrying.25PROB11/374/448. His widow later married the Wiltshire MP, John Ernle*. His eldest son, Francis, succeeded his cousin to become 5th duke of Somerset, and was in turn succeeded by his younger brother, Charles, as 6th duke.26CP.