| Person: Frank Seymour |
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Frank Maitland Seymour was the third and final child of John Seymour and his Scottish wife Mary (May). Frank was born in Sydenham, Kent, England in 1874.
Late in 1890 he sat, and passed, the Civil Service Commissioners exam for assistant clerkships in the Royal Navy (RN). On 15 January 1891 he entered the RN as an Assistant Clerk, and was promoted to Clerk (15 January 1892), and Assistant Paymaster (03 February 1895).
Like his father Frank has left a legacy of a handwritten journal documenting some of his maritime activities. Frank's journal includes some photographs from his 1896-7 voyages with HMS 'Grafton' and well as a ship-by-ship and voyage-by-voyage record of his naval activities to late 1897. In 1900 Frank moved to Australia to join HMS 'Dart', a survey ship. He died, from pneumonia, in Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital, on 04 June 1901 ... not terribly long after arriving in Australia.
Little is presently known of Frank and so much remains to be discovered.
| Frank Maitland Seymour (1874 - 1901) | |
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| Left. Frank Seymour soon after joining the Royal Navy. He joined in 1891 at 17 years of age. Right. Frank Seymour at 26 years of age. Handwritten notes on the rear of photograph: "F M Seymour taken before going to Australia to join Dart HMS. Sept 1900" and "122687". |
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| A brief history of Frank Seymour | |
| 1874 | Born in Sydenham, Kent, England. |
| 03 April 1881 | 7yo at home with father and mother on census night. Dunfield Cottage, Penge Lane, Beckenham, Kent, England. |
| 04 December 1890 | Times article: Frank Maitland Seymour scored 962 marks in the Civil Service Commissioners exam held 18 Nov 1890, for assistant clerkships in the Royal Navy. Second lowest mark of those listed. |
| 1890 (March) Navy List: No mention. | |
| 1891 | HMS Duke of Wellington (at 17 years of age) |
| 1891 (January) Navy List: Assistant Clerk, 15 January 1891 seniority, No ship. | |
| 1891 & 1892 | HMS Tauranga. |
| Plymouth (March 1891) - Plymouth. | |
| Plymouth (May 1891) - 10 days in Channel - Pembroke - Plymouth - Gibraltar - Malta - Port Said - Suez - Aden - Colombo - Batavia - Port Darwin (Australia) (14 July 1891 {1}) - Thursday island - Townsville - Brisbane - Sydney - Melbourne - Adelaide - Hobart - Bluff (New Zealand) - P Chalmers, Dunedin - P Lytelton, Christchurch - Wellington - Gisborne - Tauranga (02 December 1891 {2}) - Auckland (1892) - Wellington (30 March 1892) - New Plymouth (02 April 1892. Captain Pike {3}) - Sydney {1} Australian News. North Otago Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 7188, 15 July 1891, Page 2 {2} H.M.S. Tauranga. Evening Post, Volume XLII, Issue 133, 2 December 1891, Page 2 {3} Taranaki Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 9357, 2 April 1892, Page 2. |
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| 1892 | HMS Orlando. |
| Sydney (April 1892) - Wellington - Auckland - Suva (Fiji). | |
| 1892 (June) Navy List: Clerk, 15 January 1892 seniority, HMS 'Orlando' (Australia). | |
| 1892 | HMS Royalist. |
| Suva (August 1892) - Sydney. | |
| 1893 | HMS Orlando. |
| Sydney (October 1893) - Melbourne - Portland - Adelaide - Albany - Hobart - Jervis Bay - Sydney. | |
| 1893 & 1894 | HMS Tauranga. |
| Sydney- Nounea, New Caledonia - New Hebrides (Malekula - [?]Ambryu Island - Aurora Island - Espiritis Santo - Valua - Tapua - [?]Ambryu Island - [?]Tamia Island) - Noumea - New Hebrides () - Noumea - Brisbane - Noumea - New Hebrides () - Noumea - Auckland - Noumea - New Hebrides () - Noumea - Sydney (1894) - Melbourne - Port Lincoln - Hobart - Milford Sound - Port Chalmers, Dunedin - Port Lytelton, Christchurch - Wellington (22 March 1894) {1} - Auckland - Sydney (20 April 1894, going into reserve and replaced by Wallaroo) {2}. {1} Shipping Telegrams. West Coast Times, Issue 9786, 24 March 1894, Page 2 {2} Wanganui Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8462, 30 April 1894, Page 2. |
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| 1894 | HMS Crescent. |
| Sydney - Albany - Colombo - Suez - Port Said - Malta - Plymouth - Portsmouth. | |
| 1894 | HMS Pearl. |
| Plymouth - Berchaven (Bantry Bay) - Berchaven (7 days cruising) - Berchaven - Belfast Lough - Torquay - Plymouth. | |
| 1894 & 1895 | HMS Endymion. |
| Portland - Vigo (Spain) - Gibraltar - Port Mahon (Minorca) - Palma (Majorca) - Gibraltar (1895) - Malaga (5 days cruising) - Gibraltar - Las Palmas (Canary Islands) - Gibraltar - Vigo - [?]Arosa Bay - Vigo - Plymouth - [?]Chatham - Kiel - [?]Elsinore - Copenhagen - Portsmouth - Plymouth - Berchaven 95 days cruising) - Torquay (via N of Ireland) - Plymouth - Portland - Penzance - Portland - N [?]Berwick - ([?]Queensferry) Edinburgh - Berwick - Sunderland - Scarborough - Yarmouth - Margate - Deal - Plymouth - Portland - Berchaven - Kingstown, Dublin - Pembroke, [?]Milford - Plymouth - Chatham. | |
| 1895 (January) Navy List: Clerk, 15 January 1892 seniority, HMS 'Endymion' (Channel Squadron). | |
| 1895 February 03 | "The undermentioned Clerks have been promoted to the rank of Assistant-Paymaster in Her Majesty's Fleet. Dated as stated against their names :— Frank Maitland Seymour, 3rd February, 1895." From: The Gazette 22 February 1895. |
| 1896 | "Blake" (No "HMS" prefixed, but probably should have been) |
| Chatham - Plymouth (1896) - Portland - Torquay - Portland - Portsmouth - Cherbourg - Portland - Falmouth - Portland. | |
| 1896 & 1897 | HMS Grafton |
| Chatham - Sheerness - Portsmouth - Malta - Port Said - Aden - Colombo - Singapore - Hong Kong - Yokohama - Hakodate [Hokkaidō] - Oterranai [Otaru, Hokkaidō] - [??]Grossevilch/Grossevilik Bay, Corea - Vladivostok - [?]Kormiloff/Kormloff - Sivoutch Bay (September 1896) {1} - [?]Goskevitch - Hakodate - Myako Bay - Yamada (October 1896) {2} - [?]Odyudi - [?]Kamaishi - Sendai Bay - Yokohama - Yokosuka - Yokohama - Shimidyu (Christmas 1896) - Heda Bay - [?]Matoya (1897) - [?]Taketoya - Yokka Ichi - Yamada - [?]Mura - Owasi Bay - [?]Oosima Harbour - [?] Yusa no uchi - Kobe - Hong Kong (March 1897) - Manila - Hong Kong (April 1897) - [Ta Kau, Formosa - Am Ping - Amoy - [?]Woosung, Shanghai - Chen Kiang [possibly Zhenjiang] - Nankin [Nanjin, 250 miles up Yangtse Kiang River] - Shanghai - Nagasaki {3}(May 1897) - Sassebo [?Nagasaki] - Furuya - Kuratsu - Fukuoka - [?]Simoneseki - Mitsuya Hama - Itsuka Sima - Hiroshima - Kobe - Shimidyu - Heda Bay - Yokohama - Yokosuka - Yokohama - Hakodate - Korniloff - Goskavitch - Oterranai - Alexandrovosky, Saghalien - Castries Bay - Barracouta Bay - No further journal entries. {1} H J Troughton, RN of HMS Grafton, Drowned in lake at Pivoulich Bay, Corea on 28/29 September 1896. Notes from an associated (missing) photograph record Admiral (Probably Charles Lister) Oxley as watching the lake being dragged for Troughton. {2} Yamada houses wrecked by tidal wave 1896. {3} 24 May 1897. HMS Grafton at Nagasaki for Queen's (81st) Birthday and firing salute. HMS Immortalite also in Nagasaki Harbour, and also firing salute for Queen's Birthday. USS Boston entered Nagasaki Harbour close to this time. {4} In October, 1897, C. C. Penrose Fitzgerald was informed that the Admiralty had appointed him as Rear-Admiral second in command of the China Station. HMS Grafton became his Flagship. See Ch17 of "From Sail to Steam: Naval Recollections, 1878-1905". |
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| 1897 (January) Navy List: Assistant Paymaster, 03 February 1895 seniority, HMS 'Grafton' (China). | |
| 1898 | 1898 (April) Navy List: Assistant Paymaster, 03 February 1895 seniority, HMS 'Grafton' (China). |
| 1899 | 1899 (April-June), and (July), and (October) Navy Lists: Assistant Paymaster, 03 February 1895 seniority, HMS 'Pembroke' (Late 'Duncan', since 1890) (General Depot Ship, Chatham). |
| 1900 | Transfer to HMS Dart in Australia. |
| 1901 | 1901 Navy List: Assistant Paymaster (in charge), 03 February 1895 seniority. On HMS 'Dart' (Surveying Service, Australia) since 24 August 1900. |
| 04 June 1901 | Died in Sydney. Certificate 4050/1901. |
| Troughton drowned: 28 September 1896. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: Cross made at spot close to where Troughton was drowned ... at Sivoutch Bay, Corea [Sivuch Bay, North Korea]. |
| HMS 'Grafton': Christmas Day 1896. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: HMS Grafton at Shimidyu (Japan) on Christmas Day 1896. Note the yardarms decorated with evergreens. |
| HMS 'Grafton': Washing down Quarter Deck 1896-7. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: Washing down Quarter Deck (of HMS Grafton). 1896-7. Pencil notes around photo indicate that near-right LTCDR is "Staff Surgeon Crowley" and two dark uniformed personnel with back to camera are (left) "Henley" and (right) "FMS". Frank Seymour's sleeves pretty clearly indicate two-rings, Lieutenant or equivalent, and Henley's can't be seen. Seymour was recorded as Assistant Paymaster on the 'Grafton' in the January 1897 and April 1898 Navy Lists. |
| HMS 'Grafton' at Hong Kong, April 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: "Hong Kong". Margin notes indiacte Man-o-war (?hulk) on left is HMS Victor Emanuel and that the "Big building on foreshore [is] the new Club". |
| HMS 'Grafton' coaling: possibly Hong Kong, April 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: HMS Grafton coaling, possibly Hong Kong during April 1897 visit. Ship in background is HMS Archer. |
| HMS 'Grafton': Defaulters 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: Photo titled "Defaulters". Defaulters being paraded before the "Skipper" and the "Commander". "Defaulters" = R.N. term for a seaman being reprimanded for a fault. Degree of punishment will depend on degree of 'crime' and the defaulter is marched before the Captain and Exec where he may be allowed to offer an explanation before he is punished. Could be anything from picking up litter to flogging to swing from the yardarm, keel-hauling, etc., although not all of those are now carried out ... or were carried out in the late 1890s. |
| HMS 'Grafton': Stokers at Drill, 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: Photo titled "Stokers at Drill". HMS Grafton, probably in Japan. |
| HMS 'Grafton': Up the Yangtse Kiang, early 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: In the River off Nankin [Nanjin, China], 250 miles up the Yangtse Kiang. HMS Grafton. |
| HMS 'Grafton': Kamakura, near Yokohama, Japan 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: Upper: "Stone Tori at Kamakura" near Yokahama. Lower: "Daibutsu (Great Buddha) at Kamakura" near Yokahama. Compare with similar photo from Midshipman McCausland's diary, of 28 years earlier. |
| Japanese execution: 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: Retouched photo simply titled "Crucifixion" ... No kidding! Context suggests Japan rather than China or "Corea". Possibly the same execution ground, near Yokohama, mentioned in Midshipman McCausland's Diary. |
| Queen's Birthday 1897. |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: 24 May 1897, Queen Victoria's 81st birthday. HMS Grafton in Nagasaki Harbour and firing a slaute in honour of Queen's Birthday. Margin notes, but photograph missing from journal. Upper. USS Boston entering Nagasaki Harbour. Almost exactly 1 year later USS Boston was involved in the Battle of Manila Bay. Lower. HMS Immortalite firing salute, for Queen's Birthday, in Nagasaki Harbour. |
| Pinups |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: There are eight pages of these in the journal. |
| Silhouettes |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: Pencilled silhouettes of some of the ships he served on. Not sure what the note on the last one (a building) says. |
| Logs of ships and voyages |
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| From Frank Seymour's journal: This is the first of nine similar pages of entries recording his ships and voyages from 1891 through to 1897/1898. |
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