Monarch Victoria Nationality British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli Political party Conservative | Preceded by Lord Otho FitzGerald Name Lord Somerset Role British Politician | |
Died October 10, 1932, Florence, Italy Parents Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort Children Henry Charles Somers Augustus Somerset Grandchildren Henry Robert Somers Fitzroy de Vere Somerset Grandparents Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort Great grandchildren David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort | ||
Succeeded by The Earl of Yarmouth | ||
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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Background
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.
Political 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. When the Conservatives came to power in 1874 under Benjamin Disraeli, he was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Comptroller of the Household, a post he held until 1879. Apart from his political career he was also a Deputy Lieutenant of Monmouthshire and a justice of the peace for Herefordshire and Monmouthshire.
Family
Somerset married Lady Isabella Caroline Somers-Cocks, the eldest daughter and co-heir of Charles Somers-Cocks, 3rd Earl Somers, on 6 February 1872. They had one child, Henry Charles Somers Augustus (1874–1945), 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. She died in March 1921. Somerset remained a widower until his death in October 1932, aged 82. His only son married Lady Katherine, a daughter of William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans, and their grandson David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort, succeeded to the dukedom of Beaufort in 1984.
Music
Somerset is the author of Songs of adieu (1889) and 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.