Lieutenant General Sir Henry Somerset KCB KH (30 December 1794 – 15 February 1862)[1] was a British Army officer, the eldest son of Lord Charles Somerset.
He was commissioned a cornet on 5 December 1811, and lieutenant on 30 December 1812. He fought in the Peninsular War and with the 18th Hussars at Waterloo, serving as aide-de-camp to his uncle Lord Edward Somerset. On 6 October 1815, he was made a captain.
On 1 April 1817, he married Frances Sarah Heathcote (21 June 1790 – 16 March 1886), the eldest daughter of Admiral Sir Henry Heathcote, with whom he had seven daughters and three sons:[2]
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, 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 on the Gwangu, and was promoted major-general on 11 November 1851. At the conclusion of the 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 at Bombay. He served as the Commander-in-chief of Bombay from 26 March 1855 to March 1860,[4] and then returned to England. On 29 January 1857 he was promoted lieutenant-general. He died in Gibraltar in 1862.
Somerset stood as godfather to Henry Somerset Todd, who, in turn, transmitted the Somerset name to W. Somerset Maugham.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir W. Burney |
Colonel of the Cape Mounted Rifles 1839–1850 |
Succeeded by Sutton |
| Preceded by Henry Frederick Campbell |
Colonel of the 25th (the King's Own Borderers) Regiment of Foot 1856–1862 |
Succeeded by Henry Dive Townsend |