Difference between revisions of "Michael Culme-Seymour, Third Baronet"

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Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, as a Vice-Admiral.
Photograph: Navy & Army Illustrated.

Admiral SIR Michael Culme-Seymour, Third Baronet, G.C.B., Royal Navy (13 March, 1836 – 11 October, 1920) was an officer of the Royal Navy.

Early Life & Career

Michael Culme-Seymour was the eldest son of the Reverend Sir John Hobart Culme-Seymour, Second Baronet (1800 - 1880),^[1] and grandson of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, who was given a baronetcy for capturing the French frigates Thetis and Niemen during the Napoleonic War. He was born on 13 March, 1836, and entered the Royal Navy in 1850, being sent to join the Hastings on the East Indies Station, where he saw service in the Second Burmese War of 1852-1854. Having joined the Baltic, in 1854 he was sent back to Britain in command of a prize. With the Crimean War being waged, he was sent to the Black Sea where he joined the Naval Brigade, participating in the reduction of Kinburn. He received the Crimean Medal with Inkerman and Sebastopol clasps. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 25 May, 1857.^[2]

After the war he was sent to the China Station as Flag Lieutenant to his uncle, Sir Michael Seymour, where he remained for the whole of the Second Opium War, receiving the Second China War Medal with Fatshan, Canton and Taku Forts 1858 clasps. On 3 April, 1858 he was awarded the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie, Fifth Class.^[3]

He was promoted to the rank of Commander on 6 June, 1859,^[4] a haul-down promotion upon his uncle relinquishing command of the Station.

He was promoted Captain on 16 December, 1865.^[5] He then went on half pay nearly five years, before being given command of the new screw corvette Volage on 1 December, 1870. In the same month Seymour informed that his name was now Michael Culme-Seymour.^[6] Volage paid off on 10 March, 1872, and he returned to half pay.^[7]

On 6 March, 1874, he was appointed Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, George W. Hunt. On 1 April, 1876, he was appointed in command of the turret ship Monarch. On 8 July, 1877, he was appointed to Pembroke for command of the new battleship Temeraire, building at Chatham Royal Dockyard, to which he was appointed on 1 August.^[8]

On 4 January, 1879, he was appointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to the Queen.^[9]

Upon the death of his father in 1880, Culme-Seymour succeeded to the Culme-Seymour baronetcy.^[10]

Flag Rank

Culme-Seymour was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 6 May, 1882, vice Jones.^[11]

He was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Pacific Station on 4 July, 1885,^[12] and he succeeded Rear-Admiral John K. E. Baird on 16 August.^[13]

He was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 19 June, 1888, vice Somerset.^[14]

Culme-Seymour was appointed Vice-Admiral Commanding the Channel Squadron on 3 May, 1890.^[15]

He was promoted to the rank of Admiral on 13 May 1893, vice Waddilove.^[16]

According to Andrew Gordon, citing the papers of Earl Spencer, Culme-Seymour had rejected the offer of a K.C.B. on the grounds that it would drive "a coach and horses" through the rules and that he had not fought a battle. Apparently the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, was concerned that the Military Division of the Order "would die out" in Gordon's words. Apparently the Prince of Wales (the later King Edward VII) was also concerned that Culme-Seymour should be nominated K.C.B. "In the end," claims Gordon, "they settled for a GCB (a Civil Division upgrade)."^[17] Firstly, the claim that the Military Division of the Order of the Bath was going to "die out" is extraordinary, as even a cursory glance at the Navy Lists of the time will show that there a quite a number of naval officers of all classes in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order. Quite how one more K.C.B. would make a difference is unfathomable, even if there weren't a number being nominated every year. As to Gordon's latter claim, Culme-Seymour was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Second Class, or Knight Commander, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 17 November.^[18]

In the Queen's Diamond Jubilee honours, Culme-Seymour was appointed an Additional Member of the First Class, or Knight Grand Cross, in the Military Division of the Order of the Bath (G.C.B.) on 22 June, 1897.^[19] Not, it may be pointed out, a "Civil Division upgrade."

He was appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria on 13 January, 1899.^[20]

Culme-Seymour's appointment as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth was extended by two months, and he was succeeded by Admiral Sir Charles F. Hotham on 4 October.^[21]

On 25 February, 1901, he was appointed First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to the new King, Edward VII.^[22] He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross in the Royal Victorian Order (G.C.V.O.) on 8 March.^[23] In accordance with the provisions of the Order in Council of 22 February, 1870, he was placed on the Retired List on 13 March.^[24]

Footnotes

Bibliography

Service Records

See Also

• Wikipedia