Lord_Henry_Somerset

Lord Henry Somerset

Lord Henry Somerset

British politician (1849–1932)

Lord Henry Richard Charles Somerset, PC, DL, JP (7 December 1849 – 10 October 1932) was a British Conservative politician and composer of popular music. He served as Comptroller of the Household under Benjamin Disraeli between 1874 and 1879.

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Early life

Somerset was the second son of Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort, by his wife Lady Georgiana Charlotte Curzon, daughter of Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe. He was the brother of Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort, and Lord Arthur Somerset.

Career

Somerset was elected at a by-election in 1871 as Member of Parliament (MP) for Monmouthshire, and held the seat until he stood down at the 1880 general election.[1][2] When the Conservatives came to power in 1874 under Benjamin Disraeli, he was sworn of the Privy Council[3] and appointed Comptroller of the Household,[4] a post he held until 1879.[5] Apart from his political career he was also a Deputy Lieutenant of Monmouthshire and a justice of the peace for Herefordshire and Monmouthshire.

Personal life

Somerset married Lady Isabella Caroline Somers-Cocks,[6] the eldest daughter and co-heir of Charles Somers-Cocks, 3rd Earl Somers, on 6 February 1872. They had one child, but their marriage collapsed after a few years because of Lord Henry's infatuation with a seventeen-year-old boy. As a result, he withdrew to Italy, while his wife was ostracised from society for having made public, contrary to the conventions of the time, why she had left him.[7] Their only child was:

Lady Henry died in March 1921. Somerset remained a widower until his death in Florence in October 1932, aged 82.[10]

Poetry and music

Somerset is the author of a book of poetry, Songs of adieu (1889), which the scholar Timothy D'Arch Smith has identified as "the first book of Uranian verse".[11] He was also a composer of several songs including A song of sleep (Ricordi, 1903). His setting to music of Christina Rossetti's Echo enjoyed considerable success when it was published by Chappell & Co. c. 1900.[10]

References

  1. [1]
    Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 529. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  2. [2]
    Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
  3. [3]
    "No. 24072". The London Gazette. 6 March 1874. p. 1519.
  4. [4]
    "No. 24071". The London Gazette. 3 March 1874. p. 1453.
  5. [5]
    "No. 24675". The London Gazette. 7 February 1879. p. 601.
  6. [6]
    Black, Ros. "Lady Henry Somerset 1851 - 1921". Archived from the original on 4 June 2012.
  7. [7]
    Rodney Bell (2011) As Good as God, As Clever as the Devil: The Impossible Life of Mary Benson
  8. [8]
    "Duke of Beaufort Dies at 83; Renowned as a Fox Hunter". The New York Times. 6 February 1984. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  9. [9]
    "LADY DUFFERIN WED TO CAPT. SOMERSET; Widow of Marquess of Dnfferin and Ava Married to Son of Lord Henry Somerset". The New York Times. 29 January 1932. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  10. [10]
    "ENGLISH COMPOSER DIES IN FLORENCE; Lord Henry Somerset Had Been Residing in Italy Since Separation From Wife. ONCE CONSERVATIVE M.P. Controller of Queen Victoria's House- hold, 1874-79 -- Ballads Long Popular In England". The New York Times. 12 October 1932. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  11. [11]
    Timothy d'Arch Smith, Love in Earnest: Some Notes on the Lives and Writings of English "Uranian" Poets from 1889 to 1930 (1970), p. 24
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