Jack Seely – great-great uncle of current MP Bob – was made Lord Mottistone on 21st June 1933.
Bob’s great-great uncle was a remarkable man. He was a military general who saw active service in the Boer War and World War I, MP for the Isle of Wight and coxswain of Brook lifeboat.
Jack Seely was born on 12th June 1868. Like our current MP, he was educated at Harrow School.
The Seely family does not originate from the Isle of Wight but rather from the East Midlands. Jack Seely spent his summer holidays on the Island as a child where the Seely family owned extensive estates.
Jack Seely was a military commander in the Boer War in South Africa. He is remembered in that country as the man who placed the 14-year-old Japie Greyling against a wall in front of a firing squad, threatening to have him executed if he did not provide information about the Boer forces in the area.
The boy refused to cooperate. However, rather than carrying out his threat to have him shot, Seely let him go unharmed. Several memorials to this boy still exist in South Africa to this day, attesting to his bravery.
While on active service in South Africa, Jack Seely was elected Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight by beating his Liberal opponent Godfrey Baring by a thousand votes. He was then elected as the Island MP on 2 further occasions, unopposed.
Jack Seely served very bravely in World War I, during which he became renowned for being ‘the luckiest man in the army’ for his inability to get himself killed. He is said to have recommended a fellow soldier for the Victoria Cross for never having stood less than 20 yards behind him during a military engagement.
General Jack was mentioned in dispatches 5 times. His valour led him to be appointed a Commander of the Order of the Crown by the Belgians, and the French awarded him the Croix de guerre.
He was also recognised for his bravery for his work with Brook lifeboat. 19th October 1881, at the age of just 13, he won the French Medaille d’Honneur for swimming out with a lifeline to the wrecked Henri et Leontine.
As commander of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, ‘Galloper’ Jack took part in the last major cavalry charge of the war at Moreuil Wood in 1918, riding his beloved horse Warrior. His horse has been cited as the model for the novel and motion picture War Horse.
In 1934, Jack Seely wrote My Horse Warrior in tribute to his noble steed. Happily, Warrior survived World War I, dying in 1941 at the age of 33. In September 2014, the horse was posthumously awarded an honorary PDSA Dickin Medal for bravery.
After the end of World War I, Jack Seely once again became MP for the Isle of Wight. Standing as a Liberal, he beat his Conservative opponent by just 90 votes at the 1923 General Election. However, he lost his seat the following year.
Lord Mottistone died in 1947 at the age of 79. It was unkindly said of him that, although he was a brave man, had he had more brains he would have been half-witted.
When Winston Churchill was once accused of being the worst War Minister, he apparently replied:
“Not while Jack Seely is still alive.”
Lord Mottistone’s lack of grey matter may be attested to in a speech he made in the House of Lords in May 1935.
Speaking of a certain Adolf Hitler, he said:
“I have had many interviews with Herr Hitler. I think all the people who have really met this remarkable man will agree with me on one thing, however much we may disagree about other things—that he is absolutely truthful, sincere, and unselfish”.
Historian C.N. Trueman said of Jack Seely:
“He truly belonged to an era associated with the British Empire and the attitudes embedded into a society that at one point had a government that controlled a quarter of the world.”
Looks like the sausage doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Total respect and admiration Sir and thank you for your service.
Was he responsible for the Seely libraries on the Isle of Wight?
No, his father
What a Brave and Loyal Horse,
Warrior,So aptly Named R.I.P
xx
Quite agree. Quote “The Horse the Germans couldn’t kill”.
My mother came to the Island as a young girl of 17 from
the midland to work in service as a cook for the Seely family, she met my father who along with his father ran a small dairy on the seely estate. My gradfather was a crew member of the Brook lifeboat and helped to save lives along with General seeley and I have a book of the lifeboat which was presented to all the crew by Sir Charles Seely l in1909
I wonder Jack liked Barbeques like his Nephew Bob
“great-great uncle of current MP Bob”
well it would seem that the nobel genetics of this great man have been so diluted inthe passing generations, that the current incumbant of the position of MP, by Half-Sausage Seely, is as much use as a chocolate fireguard.
but then,.. “It was …said of him that,although he was a brave man, had he had more brains he would have been half-witted.”… Perhaps there is a familly trait after all
A great man, without question.
It sounds like half Sausage takes after his great-great uncle
l think ‘Jack’ Seely’s mythical lack of brains probably comes from his habit of throwing himself into dangerous situations rather than a lack of intelligence. His progression though Harrow and Trinity to becoming a barrister would belie that, he was just different.. Also, to be correct, he never became a General, he retired as an honorary Major General, two ranks below General