Jane Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Sheridan; 5 November 1809 – 14 December 1884), was the wife of
Edward, Duke of Somerset.[1]
Life
Jane Georgiana Sheridan was the third daughter of
Thomas Sheridan and his wife the novelist
Caroline Callander, daughter of Sir James Callander of Craigforth and Ardkinglas. She was the younger sister of
Helen Lady Dufferin, songwriter, composer, poet, and author, and
Caroline Norton, society beauty, feminist, social reformer, and author.[2] Georgiana, Helen, and Caroline were the granddaughters of Irish playwright
Richard Brinsley Sheridan.[3][4]
Known for her loveliness, the Duchess was chosen to be the "Queen of Beauty" at the
Eglinton Tournament in 1839.
She married Edward, Duke of Somerset (then Lord Seymour) on the 10th of June 1830, when he was twenty-five and she was twenty. They had two sons and three daughters:
Lady Ulrica Frederica Jane Seymour (12 January 1833 – 1916), married
Lord Henry Thynne (1832 - 1904)
Edward Adolphus Ferdinand, Earl St. Maur (17 July 1835 – 1869), had two illegitimate children by his maid. The son
Harold claimed he was legitimate and, after his father's death, declared himself heir to the Dukedom of Somerset
Lord Edward Percy Seymour (19 August 1841 – 1865), diplomat, unmarried and without issue; died in India after being mauled by a bear[5]
Lady Helen Guendolen Seymour (1846 – 1910), married
Sir John Ramsden (1831 – 1914)
The Duchess was survived by her husband by less than a year. She is interred at
Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire.