SEYMOUR SMITH. 201 



ceived his degree of M. A. at Oxford; in the army. IV 5 (Propositus), EDWARD HOBART 

 SEYMOUR. Fraternity of Propositus: IV 6, Walter Richard Seymour, born 1838. IV 7, Albert 

 Seymour (born 1841), archdeacon of Barnstable. IV 8, Richard Arthur Seymour (1843-1906). 

 IV 9, John Seymour (1843-1866), in the army. IV 11, Augusta. IV 12, Captain St. John 

 Mildmay, of the Royal Navy. IV 15, Seymour Spencer Smith (1841-1893), was a captain in 

 the Royal Navy. IV 16, Rev. Orlando Smith, born 1843. IV 17, Gilbert Joshua Smith, a 

 captain in the army. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



BURKE, SIR B., and A. 1909. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and 



Baronetage. London: Harrison & Sons. 2570pp. 

 SEYMOUR, SIR E. 1911. My Naval Career and Travels. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 429pp. 



62. WILLIAM SIDNEY SMITH. 



WILLIAM SIDNEY SMITH was born at Westminster, near London, July 21, 

 1764. He entered the Navy before he was 12 years of age. For bravery in action 

 near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal, in 1780, he was appointed lieutenant of the 

 Alcide. For gallantry in action under Graves off Chesapeake Bay in 1781 and under 

 Rodney at the Leeward islands in 1782, he was made a captain. From 1785 to 

 1792 he was absent from the service. During the last two years of this period 

 he advised the king of Sweden in the war with Russia. Returning to England 

 he was sent on a mission to Constantinople and, upon his return from that city, 

 attempted to burn the enemy's ships and arsenal at Toulon. Later he hunted 

 French privateers in the Channel and was carried onto the French shore by the 

 tide and wind and made prisoner in April 1796. By means of forged orders for 

 his removal to another prison he escaped to Havre and crossed the Channel in a 

 small skiff in 1798. Appointed to the command of the Tigre in the Mediterranean, 

 he learned of Bonaparte's approach to St. Jean d'Acre, hastened to its relief, 

 captured (March 1799) the enemy's flotilla, and compelled Napoleon to raise the 

 siege and retreat in disorder, leaving all his artillery behind. For this brilliant 

 exploit he received the thanks of Parliament. In January 1800 he took upon 

 himself to make a convention with the French by which they were allowed to 

 evacuate Egypt, an act disallowed by his superiors, who required the French to 

 surrender. In 1803 he was commissioned to watch the French in the Channel; 

 in 1806 he was made rear admiral, and the following year was dispatched on 

 secret service for the protection of Sicily and Naples. Here he was led into quar- 

 rels with military officers; he relieved Gaeta and captured Capri, but was ordered 

 to leave next year for Malta to act against the Turks. He destroyed the Turkish 

 fleet and spiked the shore batteries. Next he blockaded the Tagus, took the 

 Portuguese royal family to Rio de Janeiro, and was sent as commander in chief 

 to the coast of South America in 1808. Here he quarreled with the British minister 

 and was summarily recalled. He was made vice admiral in 1810 and admiral 

 in 1821, but he was practically retired in 1814. He died in 1840. 



Willam Smith was a typical hyperkinetic, like his father, Captain John Smith, 

 who, as aide-de-camp to Lord George Germain, became disgusted with the treat- 

 ment accorded Germain, left the army, and "passed the greater part of his life in 

 that extraordinary building or boathouse, at Dover, long known as Smith's Folly." 

 The father's father, Captain Edward Smith, commanded a frigate at the attack 

 upon La Guayra, where he received wounds from which he eventually died. 



William's hyperkinetic tendencies are shown by his "restless activity and 

 enterprise, his promptness and energy, his good humor and high spirits." He was 



