Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet
Colonel Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet KGStJ (11 August 1833 – 16 April 1915) was a British industrialist and politician.
Seely was Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham from 1869 to 1874 and 1880 to 1885, and for Nottingham West from 1885 to 1886, and Liberal Unionist MP for Nottingham West from 1892 to 1895. He was an industrialist and major landowner in the Isle of Wight and in Nottinghamshire. He was also a noted philanthropist. In October 1895 he was the 1st person to be presented with the honorary Freedom of the City of Nottingham, for "Eminent services and noble generosity towards the philanthropic institutions of the City." He was made a baronet on 19 February 1896.[1]
He lived at Sherwood Lodge[2] in Nottinghamshire, Brooke House on the Isle of Wight, and No.1 Carlton House Terrace in London. He also built Brook Hill House where J. B. Priestley, the famous author and playwright, later lived from 1948. He was a Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, and High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire. He was the Colonel of the 1st Nottinghamshire (Robin Hood) Rifle Volunteers. He was Vice-Chairman of the first Nottinghamshire County Council. He was also a Knight of Grace Order of St John of Jerusalem. He married Emily Evans, sister of the businessman and politician Sir Francis Evans, 1st Baronet, on 11 August 1857.
Seely was a member of a family of politicians, industrialists and significant landowners. His father Charles Seely (1803–1887), eldest son Sir Charles Seely, 2nd Baronet, youngest son John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, and grandson Sir Hugh Seely, 3rd Baronet and 1st Baron Sherwood were all members of parliament. His grandson, David Peter Seely, 4th Baron Mottistone, was the last Governor of the Isle of Wight; he was baptised with Winston Churchill and the then Duke of Cornwall (subsequently Edward VIII, and then later HRH Duke of Windsor) as his godparents.
He was the grandfather of Frank James Wriothesley Seely, who married Vera Lilian Margaret Birkin, a sister of Freda Dudley Ward who was a mistress of Edward VIII while he was Prince of Wales. Freda's grandson Joseph William Peter Laycock married Lucy Fleming heir to James Bond author Ian Fleming. Vera's grandfather Sir Thomas Isaac Birkin is the great grandfather of English actress Jane Birkin, best known for her relationship with Serge Gainsbourg in the 1970s and being the namesake of the popular Hermès Birkin bag. He is the great grandfather of Rachel Douglas-Home, 27th Baroness Dacre a descendant of Charles II of England, who married William Douglas-Home younger brother of the Prime Minister and 14th Earl Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He is the great great grandfather of George William Beaumont Howard, the current and 13th Earl of Carlisle whose principal family seat was Castle Howard. When he died in 1915 he left estate of £1,052,070 (equivalent to £493 million (2007) as measured by share of UK GDP. [1] UK CPI), which was according to The Times the 2nd largest estate that year (by comparison the estate of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild was the largest valued at £2,500,000) and made him one of the wealthiest men in Britain.
Seely is a great-great-grandfather, via his youngest son John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, of theatre director Sophie Hunter.[3], who married actor Benedict Cumberbatch on 14 February 2015, at the 12th century St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Mottistone on the Isle of Wight followed by a reception at Mottistone Manor.
External links and sources
- Burke's Peerage and Baronetage 107th Edition Volume III[4] *Seely Baronets
- Lundy, Darryl. "p. 4665 § 46650 database". The Peerage.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - Lundy, Darryl. "p. 1152 § 11519 database". The Peerage.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - Lundy, Darryl. "p. 3716 § 37155 database". The Peerage.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - Seely family crest[5]
- The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire, Sherwood Lodge (1881)
- Seely estates listed at UK National Registry of Archives
- University of London and History of Parliament Trust[6] &[7]
- Link to St Pauls Church built by Sir Charles Seely Bt in 1896[8] and monument to his wife Emily Seely designed by Sir Thomas Brock.
- Art collection included Cicero's Villa by J. M. W. Turner, see:[9] and paintings of Venice by Myles Birket Foster commissioned by his father-[10]
- Wight Life April/May 1975 article on The Seely Family and their Island Homes[11]
- John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, Dictionary of National Biography, 1941–1950
- The Times Obituary 1915, Wills and Bequests.
- Economic power measured by wealth as compared to the size of the economy (List of most wealthy historical figures), which is measured by share of GDP. Data from Measuring Worth:[2]
- Occupants of No.1 Carlton House Terrace [3]
Notes
- ^ "No. 26713". The London Gazette. 18 February 1896.
- ^ Nottinghamshire history > The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire and the County Families: Sherwood Lodge at www.nottshistory.org.uk
- ^ Nelson, Jeff. "All About Benedict Cumberbatch's New Wife, Sophie Hunter".
- ^ Burke's Peerage – Preview Family Record at www.burkes-peerage.net
- ^ Parishes – Brook | British History Online at www.british-history.ac.uk
- ^ Parishes – Gatcombe | British History Online at www.british-history.ac.uk
- ^ Parishes – Mottistone | British History Online at www.british-history.ac.uk
- ^ Daybrook – Pictures at southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk
- ^ Ruskin MP I Notes at www.lancs.ac.uk
- ^ Myles Birket Foster
- ^ http://www.round-the-island.co.uk/seely/seely.htm
External links
- 1833 births
- 1915 deaths
- Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
- British philanthropists
- British real estate businesspeople
- High Sheriffs of Nottinghamshire
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs
- Liberal Unionist Party MPs
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Knights of Grace of the Order of St John
- People from Nottinghamshire
- UK MPs 1868–74
- UK MPs 1880–85
- UK MPs 1885–86
- UK MPs 1892–95