ADMIRAL SEYMOUR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6383, 28 July 1882, Page 4

ADMIRAL SEYMOUR.

The commander of the fleet which is now before Alexandria (Sir F. Beanchamp Seymour) is descended (stays a contemporary) from a long line of men famous in the annals of British naval warfare. He is the only surviving, son of Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour, M,P., and a, grandson of the famous Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour. His mother was a. daughter of Sir Lawrence Palk, a Devonshire magnate, whose seat is near the town of Exeter. He is a Londoner by birth and entered the navy in 1834, when only 13 years of age. In 1842 he rose to be a lieutenant, and when the Crimean War broke out in 1854 he was appointed captain of one of her Majesty's war-vessels. _ Twelve years ago he received his commission as rear-admiral, and was in 1876 promoted to be a vice-admiral. In the capacity of a captain he took command of the Mediterranean station as the Commodore of the fleet from 1860 to 1862. Previous to the breaking out of this war he bad seen service in the Burmese War of 1852-3, and his conduct haviner gained the approbation of hfe superiors, he was entrusted with the command of the Meteor, one of those floating batteries of peculiar construction which were used in the war against Russia, and which assisted mii terially in the overthrow of Sebastopol by keeping command of the Black Sea. Ho had only six months1 experience of warfare against the Russians, ana next Baw service in New Zealand, where he led the Naval Brigade through some severe skirmishes with the Maoris, and wa,s dangerously wounded. His services on this occasion were specially commended, and he received the distinction of a Companionship of tho Bath, which honour waa followed five years afterwards by hia appointment to the office of Naval Aide-de-camp to the Queen;' and shortly before his promotion to the Admiralty he acted as privato secretary to the First Lord of tho Admiralty. Two years afterwards he himself becamo one of the Lords of the Admiralty, previous to which he had a trip round the world in a detached squadron. It was in 1874 that he was given command of the Channel Squadron, and after three years' service in ' this command he was decorated K.C.B. Two. yuars ago he took charge of the Meditermneaa Squadron, adopting as his flagship the Invincible. Sir P. Beauchamp Seymour, though at present Cl years old, was never married. He does not possess any county estate, but. lives ia London, where ho is one oi tho best known of the naval officers belonging to the United! Service Club,