He lived in Hanford House, a Jacobean manor in a village of the same name just north of Blandford.
He was a naturalist who built up a portfolio of studies of moths and butterflies seemingly for his own interest and intrigue.
As well as being an entomologist (the scientific study of insects), his first passion was malacology (the study of molluscs) and he was also very interested in mineralogy, palaeontology, ornithology, horticulture and botany – a true all- rounder in all things natural.
Posthumous interest almost imitates that of other tragic artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, who throughout their life enjoyed no recognition for their work only for it to take off after their death.
Hanford House where Seymer lived is now Hanford School, a girls’ prep school (Image: Chris Downer)
But Henry Seymer’s story is not the same tale of frustration and rejection.
He had the money, contacts and clearly the skill to have had his work published but in a move that has baffled those who have learnt more about him since the discovery of his work – decided not to seek any sort of promotion.
The Natural History Museum’s former head of entomology, Dr Dick Vane- Wright, believes that Seymer was well ahead of his time.
Had the 72 paintings been published while Seymer was alive, he said, they would now be ‘scientifically invaluable’.
And Seymer’s name would be synonymous with others in his field whose names will forever be remembered.
The paintings were only unearthed when a descendant of Henry, Nigel Seymer, found himself in financial difficulties and started selling off items of the estate.
They were bought in 1992 by Dr Harold Hughes OBE – former chairman of the Butterfly Conservation Society, retired director-general of the UK Offshore Operators Association and much more – who eventually persuaded Dr Vane-Wright to come and have a look at them.
“He said he had these 18th century paintings by a man called Henry Seymer,” said Dr Vane-Wright.
“It was just before I had retired from the Natural History Museum in February or March 2004.
He had bought them as an investment and he wanted to sell, but before he did he wanted to know more about them.
“I’ve known Harold for years but hadn’t seen him in ages.
“I had never heard of Henry Seymer and I wasn’t terribly inclined to get across town to go and see these pictures. But when I did go and I saw the pictures my jaw dropped. They were quite superb.”
Dick was so enthralled by the works, he and Harold have since researched the life of Seymer and put their findings and paintings in a collection to celebrate Seymer’s work, called The Seymer Legacy.
The book describes how, when found, the original paintings were loosely gathered in a leather binder.
Seymer’s son, also called Henry, worked with him on the paintings but the focus of Dr Vane-Wright and Dr Hughes was the elder man.
On the front was the inscription ‘Butterflies and Plants, by Henry Seymer, and Henry Seymer, Jun’. The first pair of paintings was made in 1755, meaning they celebrated their 250th anniversary last year.
Dick has exhaustively researched the life of Henry and his son, trying to build up a profile of the enigmatic man that might explain why not a single painting or word was ever published by him.
As part of the landed gentry, Henry clearly had access to friends in high places.
For instance, one of the witnesses at Henry’s marriage to Bridgett Haysome (whose father was a Weymouth man) was a Mr Portman – the man behind what is now known as the Portman Building Society and whose ‘magnificent 19th century pile’ is now the centrepiece for the celebrated Bryanston School.
Another of his friends was the eminent naturalist Dr Robert Pulteney, who lived in Blandford.
He and Seymer wrote to each other regularly and the letters the pair wrote to each other formed a basis for much of Dick’s research, as well as numerous diaries Seymer wrote throughout his life.
The book describes how Pulteney was a key figure in the acceptance of the Linnaean system in Britain.
The system revolutionised the classification and naming of animal and plants, through the introduction of ‘binominal nomenclature’.
Although a mouthful in itself, this was a method by which to simplify the naming of species.
Take the physalis fruit for example (‘cape gooseberries’). Prior to the Linnaean system, one of the species would have been known as the rather convoluted physalis amno ramosissime ramis angulosis glabris foliis dentoserratis.
The Linnaean system cut it down to the more manageable physalis angulata.
Seymer’s death in 1785 came three years before the founding of the ‘oldest biological society’ intermarried with the Seymers,” said Dr Vane-Wright.
“They were a 17th century nouveau riche family with a fairly ordinary background.
“They went to Jamaica and made a fortune through slavery and sugar.
“It got to the point that they had so much money that a branch of the family came back to England and started a process of bringing specimens home. Many of these were passed to Henry.”
Seymer even benefited through the voyages of Captain James Cook, with material being brought back to England from Australia.
Captain James Cook (Image: Supplied)
Although Seymer lived away from London, and so far as we know never travelled abroad, he was able to buy exotic items through his extensive contact network.
The chances are that Seymer will never be well-known in his field. But at least through the work and efforts of Drs Vane-Wright and Hughes his name may receive at least some of the credit it deserves.
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As the pair state in the conclusion of the book: ‘Our prime intention has been to rescue from obscurity these superb 18th century paintings, to make them more widely available and, in so doing, use them to illuminate an important figure in the pantheon of naturalists of those times, Henry Seymer, who otherwise seems to have received all too little attention.
‘These wonderful expressions of the blending of the scientific approach and the finest techniques for the depiction of nature can now take their rightful place in the development of our knowledge of natural history, and in the history of that subject.’
With thanks to The Seymer Legacy – Henry Seymer and Henry Seymer Jnr of Dorset and their Entomological Paintings with a catalogue of Butterflies and Plants (1755 – 1783) by R I Vane-Wright & HW D Hughes is available now, published by Forrest Text. T