He was the cricketer who established in law the principle that income from a benefit match should not normally be taxable in a case ruled on by the High Court in 1927.
[1] He took a total of 659 catches for Kent in his career, second only to Frank Woolley,[8] including taking six in one innings in 1904 against a touring South African side at Canterbury.
[11] The game had important consequences for all county cricketers as the Inland Revenue used it as a test case in an attempt to define money raised by benefit matches or events as taxable income.
The match had raised £939 but in 1923 the Revenue claimed that Seymour owed £3,752 in tax, including interest and penalties, more than he owned in terms of assets.
[12] The case, known as Reed v Seymour, meant that sports professionals' benefits and testimonials, in certain circumstances, remained tax free.
[14][15] A government spending review in 2015 announced an end to the practice and that from April 2017 benefit events would be subject to Income Tax in the United Kingdom.