Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet

Colonel Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet KGStJ (11 August 1833 – 16 April 1915) was a British industrialist and politician.

Seely was Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham from 1869 to 1874 and 1880 to 1885, and for Nottingham West from 1885 to 1886, and Liberal Unionist MP for Nottingham West from 1892 to 1895. He was an industrialist (coal) and major landowner in the Isle of Wight and in Nottinghamshire. He was also a noted philanthropist. In October 1895 he was the 1st person to be presented with the honorary Freedom of the City of Nottingham, for "Eminent services and noble generosity towards the philanthropic institutions of the City." He was made a baronet on 19 February 1896.

He lived at Sherwood Lodge in Nottinghamshire, Brooke House on the Isle of Wight, and No.1 Carlton House Terrace in London. He also built Brook Hill House where J. B. Priestley, the famous author and playwright, later lived from 1948. He was a Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, and High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire. He was the Colonel of the 1st Nottinghamshire (Robin Hood) Rifle Volunteers. He was Vice-Chairman of the first Nottinghamshire County Council. He was also a Knight of Grace Order of St John of Jerusalem. He married Emily Evans, sister of the businessman and politician Sir Francis Evans, 1st Baronet, on August 11, 1857.

Seely was a member of a family of politicians, industrialists and significant landowners. His father Charles Seely (1803–1887), eldest son Sir Charles Seely, 2nd Baronet, youngest son John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, and grandson Sir Hugh Seely, 3rd Baronet and 1st Baron Sherwood were all Members of Parliament.

He was the grandfather of Frank James Wriothesley Seely, who married Vera Lilian Margaret Birkin, a sister of Freda Dudley Ward who was a mistress of Edward VIII while he was Prince of Wales. He is the great grandfather of Rachel Douglas-Home, 27th Baroness Dacre a descendant of Charles II of England, who married William Douglas-Home younger brother of the Prime Minister and 14th Earl Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He is the great great grandfather of George William Beaumont Howard, the current and 13th Earl of Carlisle whose principal family seat was Castle Howard. When he died in 1915 he left estate of £1,052,070 (equivalent to £493 million (2007) as measured by share of UK GDP. [1] UK CPI), which was according to The Times the 2nd largest estate that year (by comparison the estate of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild was the largest valued at £2,500,000) and made him one of the wealthiest men in Britain.

External links and sources

• Burke's Peerage and Baronetage 107th Edition Volume III *Seely Baronets
• The Peerage database
• The Peerage database
• The Peerage database
• Seely family crest
• The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire, Sherwood Lodge (1881)
• Seely estates listed at UK National Registry of Archives
• University of London and History of Parliament Trust &
• Link to St Pauls Church built by Sir Charles Seely Bt in 1896 and monument to his wife Emily Seely designed by Sir Thomas Brock.
• Art collection included Cicero's Villa by J. M. W. Turner, see: and paintings of Venice by Myles Birket Foster commissioned by his father-
• Wight Life April/May 1975 article on The Seely Family and their Island Homes
• John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, Dictionary of National Biography, 1941–1950
• The Times Obituary 1915, Wills and Bequests.
• Economic power measured by wealth as compared to the size of the economy (List of most wealthy historical figures, which is measured by share of GDP. Data from Measuring Worth:[2]
• Occupants of No.1 Carlton House Terrace [3]

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Charles Seely

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Ichabod Wright Sir Robert Juckes Clifton	Member of Parliament for Nottingham 1869 – 1874 With: Charles Ichabod Wright to 1870 Auberon Herbert from 1870	Succeeded by William Evelyn Denison and Saul Isaac
Preceded by William Evelyn Denison and Saul Isaac	Member of Parliament for Nottingham 1880–1885 With: John Skirrow Wright 1880 Arnold Morley 1880–1885	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Nottingham West 1885–1886	Succeeded by Henry Broadhurst
Preceded by Henry Broadhurst	Member of Parliament for Nottingham West 1892–1895	Succeeded by James Henry Yoxall
Honorary titles
Preceded by Francis John Savile Foljambe	High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire 1890	Succeeded by Lewis Randle Starkey
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baronet (of Sherwood Lodge and Brooke House) 1896–1915	Succeeded by Charles Seely