Popham Seymour-Conway


Popham Seymour-Conway, born Popham Seymour, was an Anglo-Irish landowner and rake who served as Member of the Irish Parliament for Lisburn in 1697.

Origins

He was the 3rd son of Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet of Berry Pomeroy in Devon, by his second wife Laetitia Popham, a daughter of Alexander Popham, MP, of Littlecote in Wiltshire.

Conway inheritance

On 9 August 1683 his mother's childless cousin Edward Conway, 1st Earl of Conway, bequeathed him his extensive estates in Warwickshire and Lisburn, on condition that he should change his name to Seymour-Conway and adopt the Conway arms. Considerable suspicion was aroused by this transaction, as it displaced Sir Arthur Rawdon, 2nd Baronet, Conway's nephew, from the succession. It was suspected that his father Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet, had taken advantage of the Earl's senility to bring it about.

Career

In 1697 Seymour-Conway became Member of Parliament for Lisburn, site of his new estates, in the Irish Parliament.

Death by duel

On 4 June 1699, during a drunken duel with Captain George Kirk of the Royal Horse Guards, Seymour-Conway was wounded in the neck. He succumbed to the effects of the wound two weeks later and on 18 June died in London.

Succession

The Conway estates passed to his younger brother Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Baron Conway, who also assumed the name of Seymour-Conway and was created Baron Conway.