Biography

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Lord Granville Charles Henry Somerset (1792-1848)

This article was written by Col. E. M. Lloyd; it appeared originally in the Gentleman's Magazine in1848.

Granville Somerset was the second son of Henry Charles, sixth duke of Beaufort. He was born on 27 December 1792 and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated B.A. on 4 November 1813, and M.A. on 29 March 1817. In March 1819 he was made a junior lord of the treasury by Lord Liverpool, and with some intermissions, he occupied this position till November 1830.

He was M.P. for Monmouthshire from 1828 to 1848, and received the degree of D.C.L. on 10 June 1834. He was sworn of the privy council on 20 December 1834, on becoming a commissioner of woods and forests, an appointment which he held till 7 May 1835. He was chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster from 3 September 1841 to 6 July 1846.

Though always a conservative, he ultimately supported Peel in the abolition of the corn laws. He was a good man of business, and highly distinguished as a sportsman. In the last series of the ‘Wellington Despatches' there is a long letter from him describing the Bristol riots in November 1831.

He died in London on 23 February 1848.