Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset

Jane Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Sheridan; 5 November 1809 – 14 December 1884), was the wife of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset.

Life

Jane Georgiana Sheridan was the daughter of Thomas Sheridan and his wife the novelist Caroline Callander, daughter of Colonel Sir James Callander of Craigforth and Ardkinglas. She was the younger sister of Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye, song-writer, composer, poet, and author, and Caroline Norton, society beauty, feminist, social reformer, and author.^[1] Georgiana, Helen, and Caroline were the granddaughters of Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan.^[2][3] Known for her loveliness, the Duchess was chosen to be the "Queen of Beauty" at the Eglinton Tournament in 1839.

The Duke and Duchess of Somerset had two sons and three daughters:

• Lady Jane Hermione Seymour (1 January 1832 – 4 April 1909), m. 26 October 1852 Sir Frederick Ulric Graham, of Netherby, 3d Baronet (2 April 1820 – 8 March 1888), and had issue (the Countess of Verulam and the Duchess of Montrose)
• Lady Ulrica Frederica Jane Seymour (Burton Hall, 12 January 1833 – 26 or 28 January 1916), m. 1 June 1858 Rt. Hon. Lord Henry Frederick Thynne (2 August 1832 – 28 January 1904), Privy Councilor, Member of Parliament and Treasurer of the Household (1859), son of the 3rd Marquess of Bath
• Edward Adolphus Ferdinand Seymour, Earl St. Maur (17 July 1835 – London, 30 September 1869). He had two illegitimate children by Rosina Eliabeth Swan: a son, Richard Harold St. Maur, who asserted that his parents had been married and claimed his father's titles; and a daughter, Ruth Mary St. Maur, a women's suffragist and socialist, who married (William George) Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck.
• Lord Edward Percy Seymour (19 August 1841 – Yellapoor, India, 20 December 1865), diplomat, unmarried and without issue; died after being mauled by a bear^[4]
• Lady Helen Guendolen Seymour (1846 – 14 August 1910), m. 2 August 1865 Sir John William Ramsden, 5th Baronet (14 September 1831 – 15 April 1914), son of John Charles Ramsden (30 April 1788 – 29 December 1836), Member of Parliament, and wife (m. 4 May 1814) Hon. Isabella Dundas (1790 – 6 December 1887), daughter of 1st Baron Dundas

The Duchess was survived by her husband by less than a year. She is interred at Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire.

References

1. ↑ The Complete Peerage vol.XIIpII, p.82, note d.
2. ↑ The Complete Peerage vol.XIIpI, p.86.
3. ↑ The Complete Peerage vol.XIIpI, p.86, note f.
4. ↑ The Complete Peerage vol.XIIpI, p.87, note b.