Lord Robert Somerset

General Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset GCB (19 December 1776 – 1 September 1842) was a British soldier who fought during the Peninsular War and the War of the Seventh Coalition.

Lord Robert Edward Somerset GCB
Member of Parliament for Monmouth, Gloucestershire and Cirencester
In office 1801–1831
Personal details
Born	19 December 1776 Badminton
Died	01 September 1842 (aged 65) London
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Louisa Augusta Courtenay
Children	8, including Edward
Parents	Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort Elizabeth Boscawen
Occupation	soldier

Life

Somerset was the third son of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort, and elder brother of Lord Raglan.

Joining the 15th Light Dragoons in 1793, he became captain in the following year, and received a majority after serving as aide-de-camp to Prince Frederick, Duke of York in the Dutch expedition of 1799. At the end of 1800 he became a lieutenant-colonel, and in 1801 received the command of the 4th Dragoons.[1] From 1799[2] to 1802 he represented the Borough of Monmouth in the House of Commons, from 1803 to 1823 and from 1830[3] sat for Gloucestershire and from 1834[4] to 1837 was MP for Cirencester.

He commanded his regiment at the battles of Talavera and Buçaco, and in 1810 received a colonelcy and the appointment of aide-de-camp to the king. In 1811, along with the 3rd Dragoon Guards, the 4th Dragoons fought a notable cavalry action at Usagre, and in 1812 Lord Edward Somerset was engaged in the great charge of Le Marchant's heavy cavalry at Salamanca. His conduct on this occasion (he captured five guns at the head of a single squadron) won him further promotion, and he made the remaining campaigns as a major-general at the head of the Hussar brigade (7th, 10th and 15th Hussars).[1]

At Orthes he won further distinction by his pursuit of the enemy; he was made KCB, and received the thanks of parliament. At Waterloo he was in command of the Household Cavalry Brigade,[5] which distinguished itself not less by its stern and patient endurance of the enemy's fire than by its celebrated charge on the cuirassiers of Milhaud's corps.[1]

The brigadier was particularly mentioned in Wellington's despatches, and received the thanks of parliament[1] as well as the Army Gold Cross with one clasp for his services at Talavera, Salamanca, Vitoria, Orthez, and Toulouse. He also received the Military Order of Maria Theresa and was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Royal Portuguese Military Order of the Tower and Sword.[6]

At Waterloo in 1815 he lost his hat during the first cavalry charge and in the subsequent search for it a cannonball tore off the flap of his coat and killed his horse.[7] He was awarded a GCB in 1834.[8]

Somerset Monument, Hawkesbury

After a short illness he died in London on 10 December 1842 and was interred in the church of St. George's, Hanover Square.[9] A memorial tablet to Lord Robert Edward[10] is on the south wall of the nave at St. Michael and All Angels, Great Badminton, which is attached to the family seat, Badminton House.

The 'Somerset Monument' stands high on the Cotswold Edge at Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire (grid reference ST772878), near the family's ancestral home of Badminton, Gloucestershire. It was erected in 1846 and has an inscription in memory of General Lord Robert Somerset.

Family

On 17 October 1805 he married Lady Louisa Augusta Courtenay (1781 – 8 February 1825), a younger daughter of William Courtenay, 8th Earl of Devon, with whom he had several children, three sons and five daughters:[11]

• Robert Henry Somerset (1806–1807)[12]
• Louisa Isabella Somerset (1807–1888) who died unmarried.[12]
• Frances Caroline Somerset, later Mrs Theophilus Clive (1808–1890) who married 1840 Theophilus Clive (died 1875),[12] and had issue 1 son who left descendants.
• Blanche Somerset, later Mrs Charles Locke (1811–1879) who married 1845, Rev. Charles Courtenay Locke (died 1848) with no issue,[12]
• Matilda Elizabeth Somerset, later Mrs Horace Marryat (1815 – 3 April 1905)[13][14] who married 1842 Horace Marryat,[15] and had issue two sons: Adrian Somerset Marryat (born 1844) and Frederick Marryat (born 1851), and one daughter Ida Horatia Charlotte Marryat (1843–1910) who married 19 September 1863 (div 1889) Count Gustavus Frederick Bonde (1842–1909), a Swedish nobleman, with issue.[16][12] The three Marryat children were[17] painted in 1851–2 in Rome by the young Frederick Leighton. Horace Marryat was a much younger brother of the naval officer and writer Frederick Marryat (1792–1848)[18]
• Lieutenant-General Edward Arthur Somerset (1817–1886) married Agatha Miles (1827–1912), daughter of Sir William Miles, Bt and had one son (Lieut Edward William Henry Somerset, 25 January 1866 – 20 March 1890, who died unmarried) and eight daughters.
• Georgina Emily Somerset, later the Hon. Mrs Robert Lawley (born 1819) who married 1852 Hon Robert Neville Lawley (who died 1891), and died without issue.
• Augustus Charles Stapleton Somerset (1821–1854) who died unmarried.[12]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Lord Robert Somerset

Charles Somerset, Marquess of Worcester Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort Rebecca Child Charles Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort Wriothesley Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough Rachel Noel Catherine Greville Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort Richard Berkeley John Symes Berkeley Elizabeth Symes Elizabeth Berkeley Walter Norborne Elizabeth Norborne Frances Bacon Lord Edward Somerset Edward Boscawen (MP) Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth Jael Godolphin Admiral Rt. Hon. Edward Boscawen Col. Charles Godfrey Charlotte Godfrey Arabella Churchill Elizabeth Boscawen George Evelyn, MP for Bletchingley William Evelyn Glanville, High Sheriff of Kent Frances Broomhall Frances Evelyn Glanville William Glanville, Barrister of Middle Temple Frances Glanville Frances Hales

References

1.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Somerset, Lord Robert Edward Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 388.
2. "No. 15122". The London Gazette. 6 April 1799. p. 327.
3. "No. 18717". The London Gazette. 13 August 1830. p. 1736.
4. "No. 19180". The London Gazette. 8 August 1834. p. 1462.
5. Siborne, William (1845). History of the War in France and Belgium, in 1815: Containing Minute Details of the Battles of Quatre-Bras, Ligny, Wavre, and Waterloo. Lea & Blanchard. p. 180.
6. "No. 16711". The London Gazette. 13 March 1813. p. 531.
7. Dalton, Charles (1904). The Waterloo roll call. With biographical notes and anecdotes. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. p. 21.
8. "No. 19206". The London Gazette. 31 October 1834. p. 1929.
9. "Monument to the Memory of Lord Edward Somerset". Cheltenham Chronicle. 27 July 1843. Retrieved 7 December 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. Somerset, Lord Edward. "Memorial tablet to General Lord Robert Edward Somerset". The Great Badminton Church Restoration Fund.
11. His second son and three daughters are listed in The Plantagenet Roll, and more children are listed on this page
12. "Rutland 9". Retrieved 17 December 2016.
13. "Elizabeth Somerset". Roots.web. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
14. "Mrs Horace Marryat with her pet spaniel". Mutual Art. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
15. "Marryat, Horace, 1818–1887 – The Online Books Page". Retrieved 17 December 2016.
16. "120 (Sveriges Ridderskaps och Adels Kalender / 1923 – Fyrtiosjätte årgången)". Retrieved 17 December 2016.
17. "Lord Frederick Leighton". Christies. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
18. "Bonhams : Captain Frederick Marryat (British, 1792–1848) 'Puzzled which to choose'". Retrieved 17 December 2016.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Edward Somerset
• British cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars