Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset

Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset (December 1694 or early 1695 – December 1757) was an English peer and landowner.

The son of Sir Edward Seymour, 5th Baronet, of Berry Pomeroy, a descendant of Lord Protector Somerset by his first marriage, to Catherine Fillol, he was baptized at Easton Royal, Wiltshire, on 17 January 1694.

On 8 March 1716 or 5 March 1717, at Monkton Farleigh, Edward Seymour married Mary Webb (born at Seend on 22 October 1697, died 1 February 1768, and buried at Seend), a daughter of Daniel Webb, of Monkton Farleigh, and wife Elizabeth Somner, daughter of John Somner, of Seend. They had at least five children.

In December 1740, his father died and Seymour inherited his manors in Wiltshire and Devon. On 11 September 1744, with the unexpected death of George Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp (1725–1744), the only son of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, the likelihood emerged of Seymour succeeding his distant cousin as Duke of Somerset and Baron Seymour, as the 7th Duke was then aged sixty, and his wife was past child-bearing age. On 23 November 1750 the Duke died, and Seymour duly succeeded to his titles. However, he inherited little of the great wealth enjoyed by his two immediate predecessors, as the 7th Duke had arranged for the principal Percy family estates and houses of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland House, Petworth House, and Syon House to be divided between his daughter Elizabeth and his nephew Charles Wyndham. As a result, the Dukes of Somerset were never again among the greatest landowning families.

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