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Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort

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His Grace
The Duke of Beaufort
KG
Portrait of Beaufort by Francis Cotes
Master of the Horse to Queen Charlotte
In office
1768–1770
Preceded byThe Earl De La Warr
Succeeded byThe Earl Waldegrave
Personal details
Born(1744-10-16)16 October 1744
Hanover Square, Westminster
Died(1803-10-11)11 October 1803
Badminton House, Gloucestershire[1]
Spouse
Elizabeth Boscawen
​
(m. 1766)​
Children13, including:
Parent(s)Charles Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort
Elizabeth Berkeley
Alma materOriel College, Oxford

Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort KG (16 October 1744 – 11 October 1803) was an English courtier and politician. He was styled the Marquess of Worcester from 1745 until 1756, when he succeeded him as 5th Duke of Beaufort, 7th Marquess of Worcester, 11th Earl of Worcester, and 13th Baron Herbert.[2]

Early life

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Somerset was born on 16 October 1744 at Brook Street, Hanover Square, London. He was the only son of Lord Charles Somerset (second son of the 2nd Duke of Beaufort) and Elizabeth Beaufort, daughter of John Symes Berkeley.

At the time of Somerset's birth, his father sat in the House of Commons. He was five months old when his father succeeded his elder brother 3rd Duke of Beaufort in the dukedom, at which point Somerset was styled by his father's subsidiary title, the Marquess of Worcester. The 3rd Duke left only an illegitimate daughter, Margaret Burr, who married the artist Thomas Gainsborough.

In October 1765, shortly after his 21st birthday, he succeeded his father as the 5th Duke of Beaufort. On 18 October 1760, Beaufort began his studies at Oriel College, Oxford, graduating on 7 July 1763 with a Doctor of Civil Laws (DCL) degree.[2]

Career

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Beaufort held the office of Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England between 1767 and 1772.[2] From 1768 to 1770, he was Master of the Horse to Queen Charlotte.[2] He was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Monmouthshire in 1771 and Lord-Lieutenant of Brecknockshire in 1787, holding both offices until his death in 1803, as well as that of Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire from 1787 to 1799.[2] He was appointed Colonel of the Monmouthshire Militia on 23 December 1771 and assumed command of the Monmouth and Brecon Militia when the combined regiment was embodied on 1 February 1793. He remained in command until his death.[3]

He was invested as a Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG) on 2 June 1786.[2] On 4 June 1803, shortly before his death, he succeeded to the title of 5th Baron Botetourt.[2]

Personal life

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Bookplate of the Duchess of Beaufort

On 2 January 1766, he married Elizabeth Boscawen, daughter of Hon. Edward Boscawen, Admiral of the Blue, and sister to George Boscawen, 3rd Viscount Falmouth.[2] Elizabeth died 15 June 1828. Together they had four daughters and nine sons:

  1. Henry Charles Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort (1766–1835), who married Lady Charlotte Leveson-Gower, a daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford and Lady Susanna Stewart (a daughter of the 6th Earl of Galloway), in 1791.[4]
  2. Lord Charles Henry Somerset (1767–1831), who married Hon. Elizabeth Courtenay, daughter of William Courtenay, 2nd Viscount Courtenay, in 1788. After her death in 1815, he married Lady Mary Poulett, daughter of John Poulett, 4th Earl Poulett, in 1821.[5]
  3. Lord Edward Somerset (1768–1769), who died young.[4]
  4. Lord Norborne Berkeley Henry Somerset[a] (4 May 1771 – 19 October 1838)[7][8]
  5. Lady Elizabeth Somerset (1773–1836), who married Very Rev Charles Talbot, Dean of Salisbury, son of Rev. Hon. George Talbot (a son of the 1st Baron Talbot) and Hon. Anne Bouverie (a daughter of the 1st Viscount Folkestone), in 1796.[4]
  6. Lady Frances Elizabeth Somerset (1774–1841)[4]
  7. Lady Harriet Isabella Elizabeth Somerset (1775–1855), who married Col. Hugh Henry Mitchell, a son of Hugh Henry Mitchell, MP for Ballyshannon and Enniskillen, in 1804.[4]
  8. Gen. Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset (1776–1842), who married Hon. Louisa Augusta Courtenay, daughter of William Courtenay, 2nd Viscount Courtenay, in 1805.[4]
  9. Lord Arthur John Henry Somerset (1780–1816), who married Hon. Elizabeth Boscawen, daughter of George Boscawen, 3rd Viscount Falmouth, in 1808.[4]
  10. Rev. Lord William Somerset (1784–1861), who married Elizabeth Molyneux, daughter of Lt.-Gen. Sir Thomas Molyneux, 5th Baronet, in 1813. After her death in 1843, the following year he married Frances Westby Brady, daughter of Henry Brady of Raheen Manor, County Clare, and widow of Cornelius O'Callaghan of Ballynahinch (died 1829).[9][4]
  11. Lady Anne Elizabeth Somerset (1786–1803), who died unmarried.[4]
  12. Col. Lord John Thomas Henry Somerset (1787–1846), who married Lady Catherine Annesley, daughter of Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Mountnorris and Hon. Sarah Cavendish (a daughter of Sir Henry Cavendish, 2nd Baronet and the 1st Baroness Waterpark), in 1814.[4]
  13. FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855), who married Lady Emily Wellesley-Pole, daughter of William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, in 1814.[4]

Lord Beaufort died on 11 October 1803 and was buried at St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton. His last will was dated from 21 June 1789 to 11 September 1800.[10] He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, Henry[2]

Relation to Richard III

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Main article: Exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England

Beaufort and Richard III were both male-line descendants of the Plantagenet King Edward III: Beaufort through Edward's fourth son, John of Gaunt, and Richard through Edward's fifth son, Edmund of Langley.[11] After the exhumation of Richard III in 2012, intensive research was conducted using the DNA of descendants of the immediate relatives of Richard, who died without issue. The body exhumed was positively identified by matching his mitochondrial DNA with two living descendants of his eldest sister, Anne of York).

All five known living male-line relatives of Richard are descended from the 5th Duke of Beaufort; however, a Y chromosome type of Richard failed to match any of the five, indicating that at least one non-paternity event had occurred somewhere in the 19 generations between Richard and the 5th Duke. Four of the five, however, had DNA indicating they held Plantagenet ancestry through different ancestors. The fifth was not related at all, indicating an additional non-paternity event had occurred in the 5th Duke's male line in recent generations.[12]

Notes

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  1. ^ Lord Norborne was likely physically or/and intellectually disabled, as there is no public record of his life except birth and (delayed) death announcements. He died at age 67 at Wick House,[6] near Sherston, Wiltshire, close to the family seat of Badminton.

References

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  1. ^ "Died". General Evening Post. 13 October 1803. p. 4. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 55.
  3. ^ Capt B.E. Sargeaunt, The Royal Monmouthshire Militia, London: RUSI, 1910/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, nd, ISBN 978-1-78331204-7, pp. 80–1, 258.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 307.
  5. ^ Charles Mosley, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, pp. 221–223.
  6. ^ "Wick(lost)". Survey of English Place-Names. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  7. ^ Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813–1988
  8. ^ "Died". Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian. 8 December 1838. p. 3. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  9. ^ Lodge's Peerage and Baronetage (knightage & Companionage) of the British Empire. Hurst & Blackett. 1861. p. 52. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  10. ^ Hammond, Peter W., editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire: Allen Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 77.
  11. ^ "Richard III and the break in the male line". University of Leicester. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  12. ^ "DNA results | Richard III: Discovery and identification". University of Leicester. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire
1771–1799 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire
1787–1803
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire
1787–1799 		Succeeded by
Court offices
Preceded by Master of the Horse to Queen Charlotte
1768–1770 		Succeeded by
Masonic offices
Preceded by Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England
1767–1772 		Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Duke of Beaufort
1756–1803 		Succeeded by
In abeyance
Title last held by
Norborne Berkeley 		Baron Botetourt
1803
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