Sir Edward Hobart Seymour was born on April 30, 1840, in Kinwarton, Warwickshire, England.

He was a Royal Navy officer. In 1901, he was promoted to full admiral and in 1902, he became a member of the Order of Merit instituted at the coronation of King Edward VII. In 1906, he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. He served in the Black Sea during the Crimean War (1853-1856). He then took part in the sinking of the war-junks (1857), the Battle of Canton (1857), and the Battle of Taku Forts during the Second Opium War (1858) and then again at the Battle of Cixi during the Taiping Rebellion (1862). In 1868, he joined the Coast Guard in Ireland and then became commanding officer of the gunboat HMS Growler on the West Coast of Africa Station in 1869. In 1870, he took part in operations against African pirates. He rendered particularly notable service in the Boxer rebellion (1900) when he commanded a force drawn from eight nations.

In 1910, he retired from the Navy and he died on March 2, 1929, in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England.