Transcript

of

Charles Seale-Hayne, M.P. [Obituary]

Trans. Devon Assoc., XXXVI, (1904), pp. 37-38.

by

J. Brooking-Rowe (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1904 Teignmouth meeting. Mr Seale-Hayne of Fuge House in the parish of Blackawton and of Kingswear Castle, Dartmouth Harbour, was a businessman and Liberal politician, serving as Member of Parliament for Ashburton, from 1885 until his death in 1903. He died in Mayfair, (London), and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. In his will he endowed a farming and food science college near Newton Abbot. Seale-Hayne College opened in 1919, later becoming part of the University of Plymouth. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Charles Seale-Hayne, M.P. Mr. Charles Seale-Hayne, one of our oldest members, was born at Brighton in 1833. He was the son of Charles Hayne Seale-Hayne. His grandfather was Sir J. Scale, formerly M.P. for Dartmouth. He was educated at Eton, and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1857. In that year, and in 1860, he unsuccessfully contested Dartmouth as a Liberal. He did not renew his attempt to obtain a seat in the House of Commons till 1885, when he was elected a Liberal member for the Mid or Ashburton Division of Devonshire, which he represented to the time of his death. He was most assiduous in his attendance at Westminster, and was rewarded, in 1892, for the faithful support he had given the Liberal party, with the office of Paymaster-General, which he continued to hold until the defeat of the Liberal Government in 1895. He was also made a Privy Councillor. He was treasurer of the Cobden Club, and took an active share in the management of that organisation, In addition to his activity in national politics, Charles Seale-Hayne took a prominent part in local affairs connected with Devonshire. He was the first chairman of the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway, and was also a director of the South Devon Railway Company before its acquisition by the Great Western Railway Company. He entered the South Devon Militia as an ensign in 1853, and took a great interest in the corps, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel. When the regiment was embodied during the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, he served with it at Plymouth and Waterford, and was for many years its musketry instructor. He was also for sometime lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd Devon Volunteer Artillery. Mr. Seale-Hayne was a bachelor. He became a member of the Association in 1869. He attended two or three meetings, but his numerous engagements prevented his assisting much in the work of the Society, but he was always glad to know of its progress. On Saturday, 28th November, 1903, Mr. Seale-Hayne was seized with apoplexy, and died the following day at ten o'clock, in his seventy-first year.