View source for Henry Somerset (British Army officer)

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Lieutenant-General
| name          = Sir Henry Somerset
| image         = 
| caption       = 
| birth_date    = {{birth-date|30 December 1794}}
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = {{death-date and age|15 February 1862|30 December 1794}}
| death_place   = 
| placeofburial_label = 
| placeofburial = 
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]]
| branch        = [[File:Flag of the British Army.svg|23px]] [[British Army]]
| serviceyears  = 
| rank          = [[Lieutenant-General]]
| unit          = 
| commands      = [[Bombay Army]]
| battles       = 
| awards        = Knight Commander of the [[Order of the Bath]]<br>[[Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order]]
| spouse        = Frances Sarah Heathcote
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = 
}}

[[Lieutenant-General]] '''Sir Henry Somerset''' [[Order of the Bath|KCB]] [[Royal Guelphic Order|KH]] (30 December 1794 – 15 February 1862)<ref>{{cite book |author=Marquis of Ruvigny & Raineval, Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval Staff |title=The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Clarence Volume, Containing the Descendants of George, Duke of Clarence |year= 1994 |publisher= Genealogical Publishing Com |page=328 }}</ref> was a British Army officer.

==Military career==
{{Moresources|section|date=January 2023}}
Born the eldest son of [[Lord Charles Somerset]], Somerset was commissioned a [[cornet (rank)|cornet]] on 5 December 1811 and promoted to [[lieutenant]] on 30 December 1812. He fought in the [[Peninsular War]] and with the [[18th Hussars]] at [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]], serving as [[aide-de-camp]] to his uncle [[Lord Edward Somerset]]. On 6 October 1815, he was made a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]].

Soon after his marriage, Somerset proceeded to the [[Cape Colony]], where his father was governor, and served with the [[Cape Mounted Rifles]] throughout the [[Xhosa Wars]]. On 25 March 1823, he was made [[Major (rank)|major]], and on 17 July 1824, [[lieutenant-colonel]]. In 1834, he was made a Knight of the [[Royal Guelphic Order]], and later a [[Companion of the Bath]].

In 1846, he defeated the [[Xhosa people|Xhosa]] on the Gwangu, and was promoted [[major-general]] on 11 November 1851. At the conclusion of the [[Xhosa Wars|8th Xhosa War]] in 1853, he was made a Knight Commander of the Bath for his services, and left the Cape to go on the staff of the [[Bombay Army]]. He served as the [[Commander-in-chief]] of the Bombay Army from 26 March 1855 to March 1860,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ|author=Great Britain India Office|title=The India List and India Office List|volume=I|year=1819|publisher=Harrison|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ 128]|accessdate=8 January 2009}}</ref> and then returned to England. On 29 January 1857 he was promoted [[lieutenant-general]]. He died in [[Gibraltar]] in 1862.

==Family==
On 1 April 1817, he married Frances Sarah Heathcote (21 June 1790 – 16 March 1886), the eldest daughter of Admiral [[Henry Heathcote|Sir Henry Heathcote]], with whom he had seven daughters and three sons:<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Md0hAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA499 ''Gentleman's Magazine'', obituary]</ref>

# Leonora Louisa Somerset (d. 28 September 1913), who was married to Lt-Gen. Montague Cholmeley Johnstone (3 March 1804 – 22 September 1874) on 31 December 1844, with whom she had nine children (Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, volume 1, page 221).
# Col. Charles Henry Somerset (1819 – 4 November 1863), who married Christina Emma Thompson in 1848 and had issue, including [[Henry Plantagenet Somerset]], pioneer pastoralist and politician in [[Queensland]], Australia.
# Col. Henry George Edward Somerset (28 December 1829 – 5 April 1920), who married Harriette Lade Coast on 15 October 1853 and had issue.
# FitzRoy MacLean Henry Somerset (1 November 1839 – 29 June 1907), who married Ellen Amelia Arnot on 18 July 1867 and had issue.
# Elizabeth Harriet Frances Somerset (1818 – 9. Nov 1869); who married on 21 September 1841 Maj.-Gen. Peter Maclean<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=w9UYYThhRIQC&dq=Elizabeth+Harriet+Frances+SOMERSET&pg=PA328 Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Clarence Volume ..., Volume 1 by Melville Henry Massue Ruvigny et Raineval (marquis de)]</ref>

Somerset stood as [[godparent|godfather]] to Henry Somerset Todd, who, in turn, transmitted the Somerset name to [[W. Somerset Maugham]].{{cn|date=January 2023}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lord Frederick FitzClarence]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bombay Army|C-in-C, Bombay Army]]|years=1855–1860}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn|Sir Hugh Rose]]}}
|-
{{succession box
 | before = Sir W. Burney
 | title  = Colonel of the [[Cape Mounted Rifles]]
 | years  = 1839–1850
 | after  = Sutton}}
{{succession box
 | before = [[Henry Frederick Campbell]]
 | title  = Colonel of the [[King's Own Scottish Borderers|25th (the King's Own Borderers) Regiment of Foot]]
 | years  = 1856–1862
 | after  = [[Henry Dive Townshend]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerset, Henry}}
[[Category:1794 births]]
[[Category:1862 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:Commanders-in-chief of Bombay]]
[[Category:Somerset family|Henry Somerset]]
[[Category:King's Own Scottish Borderers officers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]