Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford

Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford was a descendant of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and his first wife Catharine Fillol. Their marriage was annulled and their children declared illegitimate. Their son Sir Edward Seymour (d. 6 May 1593) later served as a Sheriff of Devon.

The Sheriff of Devon was father to Sir Edward Seymour, 1st Baronet, grandfather of Sir Edward Seymour, 2nd Baronet, great-grandfather of Sir Edward Seymour, 3rd Baronet and a fourth-generation ancestor of Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet.

The 4th Baronet was father to Sir Edward Seymour, 5th Baronet and grandfather to Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset. His younger son was Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Lord Conway (1679–1732).

Lord Conway married Charlotte Shorter, a daughter of John Shorter of Bybrook. They were the parents of the Marquess. His father died when the younger Francis was about fourteen years old. The first few years after his father's death were spent in Italy and Paris. On his return to England he took his seat, as 2nd Baron Conway, among the Peers in November 1739. Henry Seymour Conway, politician and soldier, was his younger brother.

In August 1750 he was created Viscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hertford. In 1755, according to Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, "The Earl of Hertford, a man of unblemished morals, but rather too gentle and cautious, to combat so presumptuous a court, was named Ambassador to Paris." However, due to the demands of the French, the journey was suspended.

From 1751 to 1766 he was Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and George III. In 1756 he was made a Knight of the Garter and, in 1757, Lord-Lieutenant and Guardian of the Rolls of the County of Warwick and City of Coventry.

In 1763 he became Privy Councillor and, from October 1763 to June 1765, was a successful ambassador in Paris. In the autumn of 1765 he became Viceroy of Ireland where, as an honest and religious man, he was well liked.

An anonymous satirist in 1777 described him as "the worst man in His Majesty's dominions", and also emphasised Hertford's greed and selfishness, adding "I cannot find any term for him but avaricious." However, this anonymous attack does not seem to be justified.

In 1782 when she was only fifty-six, his wife died after having nursed their grandson at Forde's Farm, Thames Ditton where she caught a violent cold. According to Walpole, "Lord Hertford's loss is beyond measure. She was not only the most affectionate wife, but the most useful one, and almost the only person I ever saw that never neglected or put off or forgot anything that was to be done. She was always proper, either in the highest life or in the most domestic." (Walpole visited Forde's Farm on several occasions from his residence at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham.) Within two years of the tragedy, Lord Hertford had sold Forde's Farm to Mrs Charlotte Boyle Walsingham, and a further two years later, she had re-developed the estate, building a new mansion which she called Boyle Farm, a name still in use today.

In July 1793 he was created Marquess of Hertford, with the subsidiary title of Earl of Yarmouth. He enjoyed this elevation for almost a year until his death at the age of seventy-six, on 14 June 1794, at the house of his daughter, the Countess of Lincoln. He died as the result of an infection following a minor injury he received while riding. He was buried at Arrow, in Warwickshire.

• He was the son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Ragley and Charlotte Shorter. *He was educated at Eton College, Windsor, Berkshire, England.
• He succeeded to the title of 2nd Baron Conway of Ragley, co. Warwick on 3 February 1731
• He succeeded to the title of 2nd Baron Conway and Killultagh, co. Antrim [I., 1712] on 3 February 1731/32.
• He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) [Ireland] in 1749/50.
• He was created 1st Earl of Hertford [Great Britain] on 3 August 1750, with a special remainder to his brother Henry.
• He was created 1st Viscount Beauchamp [Great Britain] on 3 August 1750, with a special remainder to his brother Henry.
• He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.) in 1757.
• He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Warwickshire between 1757 and 1794. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) in 1763.
• He held the office of Ambassador to France between 1763 and 1765.
• He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland from 1765 to 1766.
• He held the office of Lord Chamberlain between 1766 and 1782.
• He held the office of Master of Horse from September 1766 to November 1766.
• He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire from 1775 to 1776.
• He was created 1st Marquess of Hertford [Great Britain] on 5 July 1793.
• He was created 1st Earl of Yarmouth, co. Norfolk [Great Britain] on 5 July 1793.

  ---

  
  

He is not known to have suffered from any mental abnormality, but a noted strain of eccentricity appeared among his descendants: the debauched behaviour of his grandson, the 3rd Marquess, and the suicide of another grandson, Viscount Castlereagh, were both attributed to a strain of madness supposed to be hereditary in the Seymour Conway family