Lewis Thierry SEYMOUR (1893–1916)

Lewis’s father was a medical doctor, and presumably worked in India. He brought his family permanently back to England in about 1905, and they lived at 251 Woodstock Road in St Margaret’s parish. He is listed at that address in Kelly’s Directory from 1906 as “Seymour Lionel William M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., L.S.A. physician & surgeon”.

It seems likely that Lewis first went to Christ Church Cathedral School, as he is listed with a group of choristers on the Christ Church War Memorial.

Lewis in the OTC in 1912
© St Edward’s School Archives

Lewis entered St Edward’s School, Oxford in Easter Term 1908. He became a School Prefect, and played in the Rugby Fifteen and Cricket Eleven.

At the time of the 1911 census Lewis (17) can be seen boarding at St Edward’s, and his brothers Almeric and Edward were both at prep school in Bournemouth; but his parents appear to have been out of the country. In the winter of that year Lewis went up to Wadham College, Oxford as an Elected Classical Exhibitioner. He was a member of the University Contingent of the Officers’ Training Corps, and served in King Edward’s Horse in 1913. The following year he left to join the war.

With the outbreak of war Lewis Thierry Seymour was commissioned in the York & Lancaster Regiment. In the early years he was an Instructor at Strensall Military Camp before leaving for France as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion in the summer of 1916.

He was killed in action while serving in front-line trenches at Beaumont Hamel in France at the age of 23 on 13 August 1916, when a trench mortar wiped his whole section out. He was buried at the Englebelmer Communal Cemetery (II.B.5).

Left: Photograph of L. T. Seymour’s grave in France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:

[Emblem of the York and Lancaster]

LIEUTENANT
L. T. SEYMOUR
YORK & LANCASTER REGT
13TH AUGUST 1916  AGE 23

†

IN LOVING MEMORY

As well as on the war memorial outside St Margaret’s Church in north Oxford, Seymour is remembered on a memorial in Wadham College (above); on a plaque in the chapel of St Edward’s School (right); and on a memorial in Christ Church Cathedral (below).

Administration was granted in Oxford to Lewis’s father, Lionel Seymour, on 21 November 1916. He left £1613 10s.

Lewis’s brother Almeric Hugh Seymour survived his First World War service: he was in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, and became a Lieutenant on 1st  September 1915.

After the War

Lewis’s father

• Lionel William Seymour was listed in Kelly’s Directory at 251 Woodstock Road until 1930.

Lewis’s brothers

• Almeric Hugh Seymour (born 1894) served in the Gurkha Rifles 1917–19. He married Margaret Kathleen Browne (b. 22 June 1898) in Rangoon on 8 April 1924. He joined the Indian Civil Service, and was Secretary to the Governor of Burma 1932–44. He was awarded the CBE in 1946 and died in 1950.
• Henry Frederick Seymour (born 1901) served in the Royal Engineers 1920–30. He was with Greenshields & Co, Investment Bankers, Montreal from 1930 (and in the Canadian Army 1939–45). He married Alice Patricia Robinson. He died on 1 July 1970 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada at the age of 69.

See also

• CWGC: SEYMOUR, Lewis Thierry
• Picture showing Lewis Thierry Seymour’s grave
• National Archives: WO 339/48237 (Seymour’s war record)
• Wikipedia: York and Lancaster Regiment
• Wikipedia: King Edward’s Horse

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