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Captain Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford KG (22 February 1800 – 25 August 1870) was the son of Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford and Maria Seymour-Conway, Marchioness of Hertford.
Although Lord Hertford was born in England, he was brought up in Paris by his mother who had become estranged from his father. He served as a British MP in the 1820s, but he spent most of his life in Paris, in a large apartment in the city and, from 1848, at the Château de Bagatelle, a small country house in the Bois de Boulogne on the outskirts. His English residences were Hertford House in Manchester Square, London, now home to the Wallace Collection, and Ragley Hall, which still belongs to the family.
He died in 1870, aged 70 in Paris, unmarried and without legitimate issue, and his titles passed to his distant cousin Francis Seymour.
Art collection
Manchester House (as Hertford House was originally known) was let until 1850 as the French embassy, but from 1852 was used principally to house items from Hertford's art collection. He was an extremely important art collector, the main founder of the Wallace Collection, named after his illegitimate son and secretary, Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet, to whom he left it and as much property as was not entailed.