Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset

Who was Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset?

Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset was a British nobleman.

The son of Sir Edward Seymour, 5th Baronet, a descendant of Lord Protector Somerset by his first marriage, he was baptized at Easton Royal, Wiltshire on 17 January 1694, and succeeded his distant cousin, Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, as 8th Duke of Somerset and Baron Seymour on 23 November 1750. The 8th Duke only inherited a fragment of the immense Percy family wealth enjoyed by his two immediate predecessors, and the Dukes of Somerset were never again among the richest landowning families in Britain. The principal Percy estates and houses of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland House, Petworth House and Syon House were divided between the 7th Duke's daughter and nephew.

In Monkton Farleigh on 8 March 1716 or 5 March 1717, he married Mary Webb, daughter of Daniel Webb, of Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire, and wife Elizabeth Somner, sister of Edward Somner, of Seend, Wiltshire, and daughter of John Somner and wife, and had five children: