Edward Somerset

General Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset GCB (19 December 1776 – 1 September 1842) was a British soldier.

He was the third son of the 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 the 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. From 1799 to 1802 he represented the Monmouth Boroughs in the House of Commons, from 1803 to 1823 sat for Gloucestershire and from 1834 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 ADC 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).

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, 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.

The brigadier was particularly mentioned in Wellington's despatches, and received the thanks of parliament as well as the Army Gold Cross with one clasp for his services at Talavera, Salamanca, Vitoria, Orthez, and Toulouse; the Maria Theresa and other much-prized foreign orders.

He died a general and GCB in 1842.

The 'Lord Somerset Monument' stands high on the Cotswold Edge at Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire (grid reference ST772878), near the ancestral home of Badminton, Gloucestershire. It was erected in 1846.

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:

• Robert Henry Somerset (1806–1807)
• Louisa Isabella Somerset (1807–1888) who died unmarried.
• Frances Caroline Somerset, later Mrs Theophilus Clive (1808–1890) who married 1840 Theophilus Clive (d. 1875), and had issue 1 son who left descendants.
• Blanche Somerset, later Mrs Charles Locke (1811–1879) who married 1845, Rev. Charles Courtenay Locke (d. 1848) with no issue,
• Matilda Elizabeth Somerset, later Mrs Horace Marryat (1815-3 April 1905) (portrait 1843) who married 1842 Horace Marryat, and had issue two sons - Adrian Somerset Marryat (b 1844) and Frederick Marryat (b 1851), and one daughter Ida Horatia Charlotte Marryat (1843–1910) who married 19 September (not November) 1863 (div 1889'Count Gustavus Frederick Bonde (1842–1909), a Swedish nobleman, with issue. The three Marryat children were in Rome by the young Frederick Leighton. Horace Marryat was a much younger brother of the naval officer and writer Frederick Marryat (1792–1848)
• Lt-Gen. Edward Arthur Somerset (1817–1886) married Agatha Miles (1827 - 1912), daughter of Sir William Miles, Bt and had one son (who died unmarried) and eight daughters.
• Georgina Emily Somerset, later the Hon. Mrs Robert Lawley (1819-?) who married 1852 Hon Robert Neville Lawley (who died 1891), and died without issue.
• Augustus Charles Stapleton Somerset (1821–1854) who died unmarried.