Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort KG

Henry Somerset was born on 5 Feb 1792, the eldest son of the 6th Duke. His mother was Lady Charlotte, daughter of the Marquess of Stafford. From birth he was styled Earl of Glamorgan, and from 1803 he was the Marquess of Worcester. He entered the army as a cornet in the 10th Hussars on 18 June 1811. Two months later he transferred to the 14th Light Dragoons, but then went back to the 10th Hussars as a lieutenant on 6 Sep 1811. During the Peninsula War he was ADC to the Duke of Wellington. He transferred to the 7th Hussars in October 1815 and in 1819 was a captain in the 37th Regiment, promoted to major on 30 Dec of that year.
He had a prominent life as a politician, being a Tory MP for Monmouth Boroughs from 1813 to 1831. He was Lord of the Admiralty from 1816 -19. He became Duke of Beaufort in Nov 1835 and had to leave the Commons. In 1834 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Gloucestershire Yeomanry. The portrait shows him in the uniform of the Yeomanry c1835, holding his charger which has the 1815-style horse furniture of the 10th Hussars.
In a letter written by Edward Fox Fitzgerald from a town called Belem in Spain on 22 Mar 1813, he said, “I know you like a little scandal and a little gossip….Lord Worcester has run away with a Mrs Archdeacon, a very pretty young woman, and has got her hid somewhere in this town; so I think Mrs Wilson’s castle-building will fall to the ground.” The reference to ‘Mrs Wilson’ was Harriet Wilson the famous courtesan of Paris whose memoirs include Fitzgerald and who was involved with Henry, Marquess of Worcester, to the extent that he proposed marriage to her.
However, his mistresses may have been put to one side on returning to England because on 25 July 1814 Henry married Georgiana Fitzroy daughter of the Hon Henry Fitzroy and Lady Anne Wellesley. They had two daughters but Georgiana died in 1821. Henry’s second wife was the half sister of Georgiana, Emily Smith. The two wives shared the same mother, Lady Anne, the Duke of Wellington’s sister. The marriage contravened the laws of the Church of England and the Duke opposed it. However, they had 7 children, one son who became 8th Duke of Beaufort, and 6 daughters.
Henry purchased a London house, 22 Arlington Street, St James’s. He lavished a huge amount of money on the interior and named it Beaufort House, now called Wimbourne House. But the family seat was Badminton House in Gloucestershire. where he died, on 17 Nov 1853 at the age of 61.

Regimental Details | Soldiers