Susan Seymour, Duchess of Somerset

Susan Margaret Richards Mackinnon, Duchess of Somerset, was a Scottish-born aristocrat, writer and philanthropist. ^[1]

Susan Mackinnon was the ninth of ten daughters of Charles Mackinnon of Corriechatachan and Henrietta Studd. She married Algernon Seymour, who later became 15th Duke of Somerset, on 5 September 1877, at Forres. The couple had no children.

She shared many of her husband’s outdoor interests and, under the name Mrs Algernon St Maur, wrote a book Impressions of a Tenderfoot during a Journey in Search of Sport in the Far West (London, John Murray, 1890). This is a detailed account of a journey made over several months across Canada, in the company of her husband. Most of the journey was undertaken by train, with numerous pauses en route, and there are vivid descriptions of Canadian life and culture of that time. The book was widely read and enjoyed considerable popularity.

A woman of great energy and enthusiasm, from 1905 onwards she became one of the leading organisers of the Invalid Kitchens charity^[2] and she was also active in a number of other charitable causes, including Dr Barnardo’s Homes (of which her husband became president). She died on 30 January 1936 and was buried next to her husband on Brimble Hill near their residence at Bradley House, Maiden Bradley, West Wiltshire. Their graves are in a little wood on a hilltop surrounded by agricultural land. They are surrounded by a metal fence and marked by standing rough stones with small text plaques.^[3]

She was a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, and was also awarded the Medal of the Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra Nurses Institution, the Belgian Queen Elisabeth Medal, the French Médaille de la Reconnaissance, the Italian Medaglia Benemeriti Croce Rossa, the Serbian Red Cross Order, and the Spanish Red Cross Merit Order.^[4]

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