Harold St Maur
Encyclopedia
Maj. Richard Harold St. Maur, of Horton
, Chipping Sodbury
, Gloucester
(Brighton
, Sussex
, 6 June 1869 – 5 April 1927) JP
DL
was claimant to the Dukedom of Somerset
, and briefly the Liberal
MP for Exeter
, being unseated on petition
by a single vote.
in 1869, the illegitimate son of Edward Seymour, Earl St Maur, and grandson of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset
. His mother was a 19-year old half-gipsy maid named Rosina Elizabeth Swan of Higham, near Bury St. Edmunds; St Maur's father died within months of his birth.
He was educated at Wellington College
and Sandhurst
, and served with the 14th Hussars and later with the 1st Division Royal Devon Yeomanry
. He fought in the Boer War
at Natal
with the 7th Remounts and the Royal 1st Devon Imperial Yeomanry. St Maur wrote a book which he titled "Notebook for Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of the Yeomanry".
He married in 1891, Elizabeth, daughter of Captain W.H. Palmer, of the 14th Hussars. There were three sons from the marriage. St Maur lived at Stover Park, near Newton Abbot
, which he inherited from his grandfather the 12th Duke of Somerset in 1885. He was a member of Newton Abbot Urban District Council.
, where the sitting Liberal MP Sir George Kekewich
was retiring; the Conservatives were expected to easily regain the seat. At the January 1910 election Harold St Maur was beaten by Henry Duke
by just 26 votes. The parliament did not last long, and at the second general election in December 1910, St. Maur stood again in Exeter.
At this election St Maur triumphed over Duke by just four votes, and after a recount was declared elected by the same margin on 3 December 1910, although there were several disputed ballot papers. The Conservatives launched an election petition which was heard over a period of a week in April 1911, before Mr. Justices Ridley and Channell, at the Exeter Guildhall
.
On the second day, two of Duke's votes were disallowed, putting St. Maur back in the lead by one vote. The third and fourth days were taken up with evidence regarding voters being paid for bill-distribution. On the fifth day, the Judges struck five votes off St. Maur's total, putting Duke ahead by four votes, although Mr. Justice Channell said if he had been hearing the case alone he would not have disallowed so many. On the other hand he opined that if Mr. Justice Ridley had been acting alone he would have disallowed more.
On the sixth day two of Duke's votes were disallowed, on the grounds that the voter had been paid to distribute cards, or in the latter case the voter's son had been paid to run messages on polling day. A further two votes in Duke's column were disallowed when it was proved in Court that the voters were underage. Thus at the end of the sixth day the candidates were level again on 4,777 votes apiece.
On the seventh day, the Court heard evidence that a man named Pannell or Purnell had been paid five shillings by the Liberals to act as a tally clerk. The Judges disallowed this vote, and since St. Maur's lawyers had indicated no further challenges, Henry Duke was declared elected by a single vote.
, then in the campaign against the Senussi
, and finally as liaison officer between Lord Allenby
and the French Forces. For this work he was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre
with palms. He was Master of the South Devon Hounds for many years.
, St. Maur petitioned the House of Lords
Committee for Privileges to safeguard his claim to the Dukedom, in the hope that he might find proof that his parents were legally married before his birth. On the death of his grandfather the 12th Duke in 1885, St Maur had been presumed illegitimate, and the Dukedom eventually passed to a distant branch of the family. He also placed advertisements in newspapers, offering a £50 reward for any witness to his parents' marriage.
Horton, Gloucestershire
Horton is a village on the Cotswold Edge, in South Gloucestershire, England. It is about 2½ miles from Chipping Sodbury. The nearest settlement is Little Sodbury, about 1½ miles away; Hawkesbury Upton and Dunkirk are both 2½ miles away....
, Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury
Chipping Sodbury is a market town in the county of South Gloucestershire, south-west England, founded in the 12th century by William Crassus . The villages of Old Sodbury and Little Sodbury are nearby...
, Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
(Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, 6 June 1869 – 5 April 1927) JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
DL
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
was claimant to the Dukedom of Somerset
Duke of Somerset
Duke of Somerset is a title in the peerage of England that has been created several times. Derived from Somerset, it is particularly associated with two families; the Beauforts who held the title from the creation of 1448 and the Seymours, from the creation of 1547 and in whose name the title is...
, and briefly the Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
MP for Exeter
Exeter (UK Parliament constituency)
Exeter is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
, being unseated on petition
Election petition
An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election or local government election in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong.- Outcomes :...
by a single vote.
Early life
Harold St Maur was born in BrightonBrighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
in 1869, the illegitimate son of Edward Seymour, Earl St Maur, and grandson of Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset
Sir Edward Adolphus Seymour , 12th Duke of Somerset, etc. KG, PC , styled Baron Seymour until 1855, was a British Whig aristocrat and politician, who served in various cabinet positions in the mid-19th century...
. His mother was a 19-year old half-gipsy maid named Rosina Elizabeth Swan of Higham, near Bury St. Edmunds; St Maur's father died within months of his birth.
He was educated at Wellington College
Wellington College, Berkshire
-Former pupils:Notable former pupils include historian P. J. Marshall, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, impressionist Rory Bremner, Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge, author Sebastian Faulks, language school pioneer John Haycraft, political journalist Robin Oakley, actor Sir Christopher...
and Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
, and served with the 14th Hussars and later with the 1st Division Royal Devon Yeomanry
Royal Devon Yeomanry
The Royal Devon Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, it participated in the Boer War, World War I and World War II and now forms a squadron of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.-History:...
. He fought in the Boer War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....
at Natal
Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...
with the 7th Remounts and the Royal 1st Devon Imperial Yeomanry. St Maur wrote a book which he titled "Notebook for Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of the Yeomanry".
He married in 1891, Elizabeth, daughter of Captain W.H. Palmer, of the 14th Hussars. There were three sons from the marriage. St Maur lived at Stover Park, near Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England on the River Teign, with a population of 23,580....
, which he inherited from his grandfather the 12th Duke of Somerset in 1885. He was a member of Newton Abbot Urban District Council.
Brief political career
St Maur had been identified with radical and Labour politics in Mid Devon and had given campaign donations to Labour candidates. In 1909 he was selected as Liberal candidate for the Exeter constituencyExeter (UK Parliament constituency)
Exeter is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
, where the sitting Liberal MP Sir George Kekewich
George William Kekewich
Sir George William Kekewich was a British Liberal Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Exeter from 1906 to January 1910. He attended Eton and Balliol....
was retiring; the Conservatives were expected to easily regain the seat. At the January 1910 election Harold St Maur was beaten by Henry Duke
Henry Duke, 1st Baron Merrivale
Henry Edward Duke, 1st Baron Merrivale PC, QC , was a British judge and Conservative politician. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1916 and 1918.-Background and education:...
by just 26 votes. The parliament did not last long, and at the second general election in December 1910, St. Maur stood again in Exeter.
At this election St Maur triumphed over Duke by just four votes, and after a recount was declared elected by the same margin on 3 December 1910, although there were several disputed ballot papers. The Conservatives launched an election petition which was heard over a period of a week in April 1911, before Mr. Justices Ridley and Channell, at the Exeter Guildhall
Exeter Guildhall
Exeter Guildhall in High Street, Exeter, Devon, England has been the centre of civic government for the city for at least 600 years. Much of the fabric of the building is medieval, though the elaborate frontage was added in the 1590s and the interior was extensively restored in the 19th century...
.
Election petition
The first day of the petition concerned 14 votes which were disputed by either side. On the first scrutiny of the votes, St Maur's majority of four votes was eliminated, placing the candidates level. Then St Maur went ahead again by two votes, only to fall back to level pegging again. However, Henry Duke's lawyers established a case of personation, which gave Duke a lead of one vote at the end of the first day.On the second day, two of Duke's votes were disallowed, putting St. Maur back in the lead by one vote. The third and fourth days were taken up with evidence regarding voters being paid for bill-distribution. On the fifth day, the Judges struck five votes off St. Maur's total, putting Duke ahead by four votes, although Mr. Justice Channell said if he had been hearing the case alone he would not have disallowed so many. On the other hand he opined that if Mr. Justice Ridley had been acting alone he would have disallowed more.
On the sixth day two of Duke's votes were disallowed, on the grounds that the voter had been paid to distribute cards, or in the latter case the voter's son had been paid to run messages on polling day. A further two votes in Duke's column were disallowed when it was proved in Court that the voters were underage. Thus at the end of the sixth day the candidates were level again on 4,777 votes apiece.
On the seventh day, the Court heard evidence that a man named Pannell or Purnell had been paid five shillings by the Liberals to act as a tally clerk. The Judges disallowed this vote, and since St. Maur's lawyers had indicated no further challenges, Henry Duke was declared elected by a single vote.
Later career
He served in the First World War, at GallipoliGallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
, then in the campaign against the Senussi
Senussi
The Senussi or Sanussi refers to a Muslim political-religious order in Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Senussi, Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi. Senussi was concerned with both the decline of Islamic thought and spirituality and the weakening of Muslim political...
, and finally as liaison officer between Lord Allenby
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby
Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby GCB, GCMG, GCVO was a British soldier and administrator most famous for his role during the First World War, in which he led the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the conquest of Palestine and Syria in 1917 and 1918.Allenby, nicknamed...
and the French Forces. For this work he was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
with palms. He was Master of the South Devon Hounds for many years.
Peerage claim
In 1925, after the death of the 15th Duke of SomersetAlgernon Seymour, 15th Duke of Somerset
Algernon St. Maur, later Seymour, 15th Duke of Somerset, etc. was the son of Algernon St. Maur, 14th Duke of Somerset and Horatia Morler. He was also a baronet....
, St. Maur petitioned the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
Committee for Privileges to safeguard his claim to the Dukedom, in the hope that he might find proof that his parents were legally married before his birth. On the death of his grandfather the 12th Duke in 1885, St Maur had been presumed illegitimate, and the Dukedom eventually passed to a distant branch of the family. He also placed advertisements in newspapers, offering a £50 reward for any witness to his parents' marriage.