Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford

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The Most Honourable

The Marquess of Hertford

KG GCH PC
3rdMarquessOfHertford.jpg
Portrait by Thomas Lawrence, c. 1825.
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
In office
14 March 1812 – 28 July 1812
MonarchGeorge III
Prime MinisterSpencer Perceval
The Earl of Liverpool
Preceded byLord John Thynne
Succeeded byViscount Jocelyn
Personal details
Born11 March 1777
Died1 March 1842 (1842-04) (aged 64)
NationalityBritish
Political partyTory
Spouse(s)Maria Emilia Fagnani
(1771–1856)
Shield of arms of Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford, KG, GCH, PC

Francis Charles Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford, KG, GCH, PC (11 March 1777 – 1 March 1842), styled Viscount Beauchamp between 1793 and 1794 and Earl of Yarmouth between 1794 and 1822, was a British Tory politician and art collector.

Background[]

Seymour-Conway was the son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford, by his second wife Isabella Anne Ingram, daughter of Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine.

Political career[]

Lord Yarmouth sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for Orford from 1797 to 1802,[1] for Lisburn from 1802 to 1812,[2] for Antrim from 1812 to 1818[3] and for Camelford from 1820 to 1822.[4] In March 1812 he was sworn of the Privy Council[5] and appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under Spencer Perceval. He continued in the post after Lord Liverpool became prime minister in May 1812 after Perceval's assassination, but relinquished it in July of that year. The same year he was appointed Lord Warden of the Stannaries,[6] a post he held until his death. He succeeded his father in the marquessate in 1822. The same year he was also made a Knight of the Garter[7] and appointed Vice-Admiral of Suffolk, a post he retained until his death.

Lord Hertford was also a considerable art collector, as were his son and grandson; many of his pictures are in the Wallace Collection which they founded.[8]

Cricket[]

Seymour-Conway was an amateur cricketer who made two known appearances in first-class cricket matches in 1799.[9] He was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).[10]

He died in March 1842, aged 64, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard. The Marchioness of Hertford died in March 1856, aged 84.

Family[]

Maria Emilia Fagnani

Lord Hertford married Maria Emilia Fagnani, reputedly the illegitimate daughter of the 4th Duke of Queensberry and a married Italian aristocrat, the Marchesa Fagnani, on 18 May 1798. They had three children:

Legacy[]

Lord Hertford was the prototype for the characters of the Marquess of Monmouth in Benjamin Disraeli's 1844 novel Coningsby and Lord Steyne in William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847–8 serial Vanity Fair. Thackeray's illustration of the Marquis for issue 11 was considered to bear such a resemblance to Hertford that threat of prosecution for libel effectively suppressed its publication.[11] In Hertford's last years, he was said to live with a retinue of prostitutes, and the mental instability which afflicted several members of his family became noticeable.[12] Charles Greville described him as broken with infirmities and unable to speak due to paralysis of the tongue and claimed "there has been, so far as I know, no such example of undisguised debauchery".[13]

References[]

  1. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O" (part 1)
  2. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 3)
  3. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 2)
  4. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
  5. ^ "No. 16584". The London Gazette. 17 March 1812. p. 517.
  6. ^ "No. 16632". The London Gazette. 11 August 1812. p. 1579.
  7. ^ "No. 17872". The London Gazette. 23 November 1822. p. 1914.
  8. ^ "wallacecollection.org The 3rd Marquess of Hertford". Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  9. ^ Lord Yarmouth, CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 December 2020. (subscription required)
  10. ^ Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862
  11. ^ "Suppressed Plates", Pall Mall Magazine, London, 1899.
  12. ^ Hyde, Montgomery The Strange Death of Lord Castlereagh William Heinemann 1959 p.157
  13. ^ Hyde, p.157

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Lord Robert Seymour
Viscount Castlereagh 		Member of Parliament for Orford
–1802
With: Lord Robert Seymour 		Succeeded by
Lord Robert Seymour
Preceded by
 Member of Parliament for Lisburn
1802–1812 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Edmund Alexander Macnaghten
John O'Neill 		Member of Parliament for Antrim
1812–1818
With: John O'Neill 		Succeeded by
John O'Neill
Hugh Henry John Seymour
Vacant
Title last held by
John Stewart
Lewis Allsopp 		Member of Parliament for Camelford
1820–
With: Mark Milbank 		Succeeded by

Mark Milbank
Political offices
Preceded by
Lord John Thynne 		Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
March–July 1812 		Succeeded by
Viscount Jocelyn
Court offices
Preceded by
Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt 		Lord Warden of the Stannaries
1812–1842 		Succeeded by
The Prince Consort
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Marquess of Hertford 		Vice-Admiral of Suffolk
1822–1842 		Vacant
Title next held by
The Earl of Stradbroke
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Francis Seymour-Conway 		Marquess of Hertford
1822–1842 		Succeeded by
Richard Seymour-Conway
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