| Notes |
--- "Sheffield Daily Telegraph" Saturday, 12 August 1865, page 8 :
BIRTHS. On the 9th inst., at 16, Great Cumberland-street, Lady Raglan, of a son.
--- "Yorkshire Post" 03 Mar 1899, page 6:
Captain the Hon. Richard Fitzroy Somerset died yesterday at the Southern Hospital, Liverpool. He arrived in Liverpool on Sunday from the West Coast of Africa, and as he was in a critical state from black water fever he was conveyed to the hospital. Lord Raglan, his brother, and other relatives were at the hospital when death occurred. Captain Somerset, who was 33 years of age, was an officer of the Grenadier Guards. He was aide-de-camp to Lord Wolseley when his Lordship was commander-in-chief in Ireland, and he went to the West Coast in February last year in connection with the formation of the new frontier native force.
--- "Monmouthshire Beacon" 10 Mar 1899, page 5:
DEATH AND FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN
THE HON. RICHARD FITZROY SOMERSET.
It is our painful duty to record the death of captain the Hon. Richard FitzRoy Somerset, youngest son of the late and youngest brother of the present Lord Raglan, which occurred on Thursday of last week, the 2nd inst, at Liverpool. The deceased officer only landed at that seaport on the Sunday previous from Lagos, with his health so shattered by the West African climate that he was unable to proceed on his journey to London. The members of the family were summoned but despite the best medical attention possible the deceased succumbed, as stated, to an attack of what is known as Black Water fever.
The deceased officer was thirty-three years of age. He joined the Grenadier Guards in August 1886, and obtained the rank of Captain in March of last year. Eighteen months ago he was selected for special service on the west coast of Africa with the view of organising a new battalion of native troops there, and during his residence at Jebba devoted himself with untiring energy and indefatigable zeal to turning the natives of the country into useful troops. He penetrated into parts of the hinterland never before traversed by white men and his reports were highly thought of at the Colonial Office. He gave his health and strength ungrudgingly to his country and his untimely death deprives the army of the services of an able and promising officer. During Viscount Wolseley's command in Ireland, Capt. Somerset acted as his aide-de-camp, and his cousin, Earl Beauchamp, who proceeds shortly to New South Wales as Governor, had asked him to undertake a similar duty in that colony. Captain Somerset in his early military career was a lieutenant in the R.M.R.E. (M). . . .[Further report of the funeral.]
--- "South Wales Daily News" 06 Mar 1899, page 4:
FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN THE HON. R. SOMERSET.
The funeral of Captain the Hon. Richard Fitzroy Somerset, youngest brother of Lord Raglan, who died at Liverpool on teh 2nd inst. from African fever, took place at Llandenny, midway between Usk and Raglan, on Saturday afternoon. The funeral party -- the military portion of which, from London, had joined the family portion at Pontypool Road Station -- arrived at Llandenny Station at 2.40, and was met by a number of parishioners. The mourners were as follow:-- Lord and Lady Raglan, Capt. the Hon. Arthur Somerset, the Hon. Violet Somerset, the Hon. Mrs. Walter Farquhar, Mr. Raglan T.H. Somerset, the Hon. Granville Somerset, Lord Beauchamp, the Hon. Edward Lygon, the Hon. Robert Lygon, Colonel Eaton (commanding Grenadier Guards), Colonel Crabbe, Captain Corry, Lord Kilcoursie, Lord Edward Cecil, Major C. Fergusson, Major R. Gilmore, and Mr. R.G. Munn. The coffin, which was of polished oak with massive brass furnishings, had on the breastplate the inscription:-- "Captain the Honourable Richard Fitzroy Somerset (Grenadier Guards). Died 2nd March, 1899. Aged 33 years." The Union Jack served as a pall, and on it were placed the usual accoutrements of the deceased and the beautiful wreaths of the family. The Rev. H.P. Somerset, rector of Crickhowell, and cousin of the deceased, met the cortege at the churchyard gates, and read the greater part of the service, the Rev. C.H. Fardell (vicar of Llandenny) reading the lesson only. The hymns commencing "Brief life is here our portion" and "Through the night of doubt and sorrow" were sung in the church. A party of eight sergeants of the battalions to which deceased had been attached carried the body to its last resting place, adjoining that of his father which had been lined with moss and adorned with snowdrops.
Beautiful wreaths, etc., were sent by Lord and Lady Raglan and other members of the family, from Colonel Eaton and the officers of the regiment, the N.C.O.'s of the Grenadier Guards, Earl and Countess Stanhope, Lord Edward Cecil, Colonel Herbert, C.B., Sir A.F. Webster, Colonel Curre and officers of the R.M.R.E. (M), Mr. Ronald H. Buxton (Norfolk Regiment), and many others.
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1865 - 1899 (33 years)
