Henry Seymour

Background

Henry Seymour-Conway until 1793, when his father was created a marquess. He then became Lord Henry Seymour-Conway, but dropped the surname of Conway after his father"s death in 1794.

Education

Seymour-Conway was educated at Eton and Hertford College, Oxford, and took his Master of Arts from Merton College in 1767.

Career

He was known as Honorary He was first elected to the House of Commons in 1766 as Member for Coventry. After the 1768 election, when he and Andrew Archer defeated a challenge by Walter Waring, he was a consistent supporter of the Grafton and then the North governments. Due to a falling-out between his father, the Earl of Hertford, and the Corporation of Coventry, Seymour-Conway did not stand as a candidate there at the 1774 election.

He was instead returned by the North administration at Midhurst, which was a Treasury borough that year.

In 1776, he was also returned to the Parliament of Ireland for Antrim County, which he represented until 1783. As his re-election in Midhurst did not appear to be sustainable in the 1780 election, he stood successfully at Downton.

In the 1784 election, Seymour-Conway and Robert Shafto faced off against Honorary Edward Bouverie and William Scott, and, a double return being made, the case came before the House of Commons.

During this period, he was for some time a captain in the Warwickshire Militia, and befriended the poet George Crabbe while quartered at Aldeburgh.

On 11 February 1793, he was promoted major. The election of 1784 marked Henry"s retirement from politics. By 1816, these offices brought an income of more than £10,000 a year (£683,642 as of 2016).

He was also craner and wharfinger of the Portuguese of Dublin, a sinecure abolished in 1830.

He spent the rest of his life in the improvement of his estate at Norris Castle, in the Isle of Wight. He had a reputation for both eccentricity and benevolence when he died, unmarried, in 1830.

There is a memorial to him in Saint Mildred"s Church, Whippingham.

Achievements

• Seymour-Conway chose not to stand in the ensuing by-election. His brother William took his place and won the by-election.

Membership

12th Parliament of Great Britain. 13th Parliament of Great Britain. 14th Parliament of Great Britain.

15th Parliament of Great Britain.