Somerset also saw action during the Hundred Days: he served on Wellington's staff at the Battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 and at the Battle of Waterloo two days later (where he had to have his right arm amputated[7] and then demanded his arm back so he could retrieve the ring that his wife had given him).[8] Promoted to colonel and appointed an aide-de-camp to the Prince Regent on 28 August 1815,[9] he was appointed a Knight of the BavarianMilitary Order of Max Joseph on 3 October 1815.[10] He remained with the Army of Occupation in France until May 1816 when he returned to the post of secretary at the British Embassy in Paris.[11]
Raglan became commander of the British troops sent to the Crimea with the temporary rank of full general on 21 February 1854[19] and was promoted to the substantive rank of full general on 20 June 1854.[20] While Raglan's primary objective was to defend Constantinople he was ordered by the Duke of Newcastle, who was at the time Secretary of State for War, to besiege the Russian port of Sevastopol "unless it could not be undertaken with a reasonable prospect of success".[21] An Anglo-French force under the joint command of Somerset and General Jacques St. Arnaud defeated General Alexander Menshikov's Russian army at the Battle of the Alma in September 1854.[8]
During the campaign Raglan had the abstracted habit of referring to the Russian enemies as "the French". While this eccentricity is often cited as evidence of his unsuitability for high command, he did in fact speak fluent French and relations between the two allies in the field were good.[22]
At the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854, Raglan issued an order to the Earl of Lucan, his cavalry commander, who in turn ordered the Earl of Cardigan, a subordinate commander who happened to be Lucan's brother-in-law and who detested him, to lead the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade leading to some 278 British casualties.[23] Despite an indecisive result at Balaclava the British and French allied army gained a victory at the Battle of Inkerman in November 1854 and Raglan was promoted to the rank of field marshal on 5 November 1854.[24] He was also awarded the Ottoman Empire Order of the Medjidie, 1st Class on 15 May 1855.[25]
Raglan was blamed by the press and the government for the sufferings of the British soldiers in the terrible Crimean winter during the Siege of Sevastopol owing to shortages of food and clothing[26] although this, in part, was the fault of the home authorities who failed to provide adequate logistical support.[4] A piecemeal allied assault on Sevastopol on 18 June 1855 was a complete failure.[4] The anxieties of the siege began to seriously undermine Raglan's health and he died unexpectedly on 28 June 1855, while suffering with dysentery and depression.[4] His body was brought home and interred at St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton.[8]
This house with 238 acres of land was purchased by 1623 of the friends, admirers and comrades in arms of the late Field Marshal Lord Raglan GCB and presented by them to his son and his heirs for ever in a lasting memorial of affectionate regard and respect.
A blue plaque was erected outside Raglan's house at Stanhope Gate in London in 1911.[30]
Family
Emily Harriet Wellesley-Pole, Lady FitzRoy Somerset (after Thomas Lawrence)
On 6 August 1814 Somerset married Lady Emily Harriet Wellesley-Pole (daughter of William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, and niece of the Duke of Wellington). They had three sons, and two daughters:[31]
Charlotte Caroline Elizabeth Somerset (16 May 1815 - 1906)
Arthur William FitzRoy Somerset (6 May 1816 – 21 December 1845)
^ abcdeLloyd, E. M. (2004). "FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan". In Sweetman, John (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26007. Retrieved 9 February 2014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"How a family feud threatened the legacy of a Crimean War leader". Financial Times. 27 December 2013. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
Calthorpe, Somerset John Gough (1857). Letters from Headquarters: Or, The Realities of the War in the Crimea, by an Officer on the Staff. London: John Murray.
Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals, 1736–1997: A Biographical Dictionary. Barnsley: Leo Cooper. ISBN0-85052-696-5.
fitzroy, somerset, baron, raglan, field, marshal, fitzroy, james, henry, somerset, baron, raglan, september, 1788, june, 1855, known, before, 1852, lord, fitzroy, somerset, british, army, officer, when, junior, officer, served, peninsular, waterloo, campaign, . Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset 1st Baron Raglan GCB PC 30 September 1788 28 June 1855 known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset was a British Army officer When a junior officer he served in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign latterly as military secretary to the Duke of Wellington He also took part in politics as Tory Member of Parliament for Truro before becoming Master General of the Ordnance The Right HonourableThe Lord RaglanBirth nameFitzRoy James Henry SomersetBorn 1788 09 30 30 September 1788Badminton Gloucestershire EnglandDied28 June 1855 1855 06 28 aged 66 Sevastopol Crimea Russian EmpireBuriedSt Michael and All Angels Church BadmintonAllegiance United KingdomService wbr branchBritish ArmyYears of service1804 1855RankField marshalCommands heldMaster General of the OrdnanceBritish troops in the CrimeaBattles warsNapoleonic WarsPeninsular War Hundred DaysCrimean WarAwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight s Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph Bavaria Army Gold Medal Waterloo Medal Order of the Medjidie First Class Ottoman Empire Spouse s Lady Emily Wellesley Pole m 1814 wbr He became commander of the British troops sent to the Crimea in 1854 his primary objective was to defend Constantinople and he was also ordered to besiege the Russian port of Sevastopol After an early success at the Battle of the Alma a failure to deliver orders with sufficient clarity caused the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava Despite further success at the Battle of Inkerman a poorly coordinated allied assault on Sevastopol in June 1855 was a complete failure Raglan died later that month after having dysentery and depression Contents 1 Early life 2 Military career 3 Crimean War 4 Family 5 Ancestry 6 Cultural depictions 7 See also 8 References 9 Sources 10 External linksEarly life EditBorn at Badminton House in Gloucestershire as the ninth and youngest son of Henry Somerset 5th Duke of Beaufort and his wife Elizabeth daughter of Admiral Edward Boscawen 1 Somerset was educated at Westminster School and was commissioned as a cornet in the 4th Light Dragoons on 16 June 1804 2 Military career EditPromoted to lieutenant on 1 June 1805 3 Somerset accompanied Sir Arthur Paget on his visit to Sultan Selim III of the Ottoman Empire who had been aligning himself too closely with France in 1807 4 He became a captain in the 43rd Regiment of Foot on 5 May 1808 shortly before his appointment as aide de camp to Sir Arthur Wellesley in July 1808 1 Somerset accompanied Wellesley s Army when it was sent to Portugal later that month 1 Somerset fought at the Second Battle of Porto in May 1809 the Battle of Talavera in July 1809 and the Battle of Bussaco where he was wounded in September 1810 1 He was appointed acting military secretary to Wellington in November 1810 and fought with him at the Battle of Pombal in March 1811 the Battle of Sabugal in April 1811 and the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro in May 1811 1 Promoted to brevet major on 9 June 1811 he also took part in the Battle of El Bodon in September 1811 1 He specially distinguished himself at the storming of Badajoz in March 1812 by being the first to mount the breach and by helping to secure the surrender of the French Governor and was duly promoted to lieutenant colonel on 27 April 1812 4 FitzRoy James Henry Somerset by William Haines Somerset went on to fight with Wellington at the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812 the Siege of Burgos in September 1812 and the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813 as well as the Siege of San Sebastian in July 1813 the Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813 and the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813 1 They also fought together at the Battle of the Nive in December 1813 the Battle of Orthez in February 1814 and the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814 1 Following Wellington s appointment as British Ambassador during the short period of Bourbon restoration Somerset assumed a role as his secretary at the Embassy on 5 July 1814 5 Somerset transferred to the 1st Guards on 25 July 1814 and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 2 January 1815 6 Somerset also saw action during the Hundred Days he served on Wellington s staff at the Battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 and at the Battle of Waterloo two days later where he had to have his right arm amputated 7 and then demanded his arm back so he could retrieve the ring that his wife had given him 8 Promoted to colonel and appointed an aide de camp to the Prince Regent on 28 August 1815 9 he was appointed a Knight of the Bavarian Military Order of Max Joseph on 3 October 1815 10 He remained with the Army of Occupation in France until May 1816 when he returned to the post of secretary at the British Embassy in Paris 11 Somerset was elected Tory Member of Parliament for Truro in 1818 12 and became Wellington s secretary in the latter s new capacity as Master General of the Ordnance in 1819 8 Somerset lost his seat at the general election in 1820 but having been promoted to major general on 27 May 1825 13 regained his seat in Parliament in 1826 14 Following Wellington s appointment as Commander in Chief of the Forces in January 1827 Somerset became Military Secretary in August 1827 15 He stood down from Parliament in 1829 and was promoted to lieutenant general on 28 June 1838 16 Advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 24 September 1852 he became Master General of the Ordnance on 30 September 1852 17 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Raglan of Raglan in the County of Monmouthshire on 11 October 1852 18 Crimean War Edit FitzRoy Somerset by William Salter 1838 1840 Raglan became commander of the British troops sent to the Crimea with the temporary rank of full general on 21 February 1854 19 and was promoted to the substantive rank of full general on 20 June 1854 20 While Raglan s primary objective was to defend Constantinople he was ordered by the Duke of Newcastle who was at the time Secretary of State for War to besiege the Russian port of Sevastopol unless it could not be undertaken with a reasonable prospect of success 21 An Anglo French force under the joint command of Somerset and General Jacques St Arnaud defeated General Alexander Menshikov s Russian army at the Battle of the Alma in September 1854 8 During the campaign Raglan had the abstracted habit of referring to the Russian enemies as the French While this eccentricity is often cited as evidence of his unsuitability for high command he did in fact speak fluent French and relations between the two allies in the field were good 22 At the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854 Raglan issued an order to the Earl of Lucan his cavalry commander who in turn ordered the Earl of Cardigan a subordinate commander who happened to be Lucan s brother in law and who detested him to lead the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade leading to some 278 British casualties 23 Despite an indecisive result at Balaclava the British and French allied army gained a victory at the Battle of Inkerman in November 1854 and Raglan was promoted to the rank of field marshal on 5 November 1854 24 He was also awarded the Ottoman Empire Order of the Medjidie 1st Class on 15 May 1855 25 Raglan was blamed by the press and the government for the sufferings of the British soldiers in the terrible Crimean winter during the Siege of Sevastopol owing to shortages of food and clothing 26 although this in part was the fault of the home authorities who failed to provide adequate logistical support 4 A piecemeal allied assault on Sevastopol on 18 June 1855 was a complete failure 4 The anxieties of the siege began to seriously undermine Raglan s health and he died unexpectedly on 28 June 1855 while suffering with dysentery and depression 4 His body was brought home and interred at St Michael and All Angels Church Badminton 8 Blue plaque at Stanhope Gate London Raglan had also served as honorary colonel of the 53rd Regiment of Foot 27 and then as honorary colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards The Blues 28 Cefntilla Court Llandenny was built as a lasting memorial to Somerset in 1858 an inscription over the porch there reads 29 This house with 238 acres of land was purchased by 1623 of the friends admirers and comrades in arms of the late Field Marshal Lord Raglan GCB and presented by them to his son and his heirs for ever in a lasting memorial of affectionate regard and respect A blue plaque was erected outside Raglan s house at Stanhope Gate in London in 1911 30 Family Edit Emily Harriet Wellesley Pole Lady FitzRoy Somerset after Thomas Lawrence On 6 August 1814 Somerset married Lady Emily Harriet Wellesley Pole daughter of William Wellesley Pole 3rd Earl of Mornington and niece of the Duke of Wellington They had three sons and two daughters 31 Charlotte Caroline Elizabeth Somerset 16 May 1815 1906 Arthur William FitzRoy Somerset 6 May 1816 21 December 1845 Richard Henry Fitzroy Somerset 2nd Baron Raglan 24 May 1817 3 May 1884 Frederick John Fitzroy Somerset 8 Mar 1821 26 Nov 1824 Katherine Anne Emily Cecilia Somerset 31 Aug 1824 1915 Ancestry EditAncestors of FitzRoy Somerset 1st Baron RaglanCharles Somerset Marquess of WorcesterHenry Somerset 2nd Duke of BeaufortRebecca ChildCharles Somerset 4th Duke of BeaufortWriothesley Noel 2nd Earl of GainsboroughRachel NoelCatherine GrevilleHenry Somerset 5th Duke of BeaufortRichard BerkeleyJohn Symes BerkeleyElizabeth SymesElizabeth BerkeleyWalter NorborneElizabeth NorborneFrances BaconFitzRoy Somerset 1st Baron RaglanEdward Boscawen MP Hugh Boscawen 1st Viscount FalmouthJael GodolphinAdmiral Edward BoscawenCol Charles GodfreyCharlotte GodfreyArabella ChurchillElizabeth BoscawenGeorge Evelyn MP for BletchingleyWilliam Evelyn Glanville High Sheriff of KentFrances BroomhallFrances Evelyn GlanvilleWilliam Glanville Barrister of Middle TempleFrances GlanvilleFrances HalesCultural depictions EditRaglan was portrayed by John Gielgud in the film The Charge of the Light Brigade 1968 32 Lord Raglan is a character in George MacDonald Fraser s novel Flashman at the Charge in which he is described as a kindly but ineffectual man and completely unsuited for his command 33 See also EditRaglan sleeveReferences Edit a b c d e f g h Heathcote p 267 No 15710 The London Gazette 12 June 1804 p 726 No 15811 The London Gazette 28 May 1805 p 718 a b c d e Lloyd E M 2004 FitzRoy Somerset 1st Baron Raglan In Sweetman John ed Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 26007 Retrieved 9 February 2014 Subscription or UK public library membership required No 16914 The London Gazette 5 July 1814 p 1371 No 16972 The London Gazette 4 January 1815 p 20 No 17028 The London Gazette 22 June 1815 p 1216 a b c d Heathcote p 268 No 17057 The London Gazette 2 September 1815 p 1787 No 17067 The London Gazette 3 October 1815 p 2025 No 17137 The London Gazette 18 May 1816 p 931 No 17384 The London Gazette 1 August 1818 p 1377 No 18141 The London Gazette 28 May 1825 p 926 No 18269 The London Gazette 18 July 1826 p 1787 No 18391 The London Gazette 28 August 1827 p 1827 No 19631 The London Gazette 3 July 1838 p 1489 No 21363 The London Gazette 1 October 1852 p 2591 No 21366 The London Gazette 12 October 1852 p 2663 No 21524 The London Gazette 21 February 1854 p 515 No 21564 The London Gazette 22 June 1854 p 1931 Hibbert p 56 Tombs Robert and Isabelle 2006 That Sweet Enemy The French and the British From the Sun King to the Present p 358 ISBN 0 434 00867 2 Calthorpe p 132 No 21630 The London Gazette 21 November 1854 p 3593 No 21714 The London Gazette 18 May 1855 p 1915 Martin p 181 No 18747 The London Gazette 19 November 1830 p 2420 No 21551 The London Gazette 9 May 1854 p 1442 How a family feud threatened the legacy of a Crimean War leader Financial Times 27 December 2013 Archived from the original on 10 December 2022 Retrieved 9 February 2014 Lord Fitzroy Somerset Raglan 1st Baron lived here Retrieved 9 February 2014 Mosley Charles editor Burke s Peerage Baronetage amp Knightage 107th edition 3 volumes Wilmington Delaware U S A Burke s Peerage Genealogical Books Ltd 2003 The Charge of the Light Brigade 1968 IMDb Retrieved 8 August 2014 Fraser George MacDonald 2006 Flashman at the Charge From the Flashman Papers 1854 55 HarperCollins ISBN 978 0007217182 Sources EditCalthorpe Somerset John Gough 1857 Letters from Headquarters Or The Realities of the War in the Crimea by an Officer on the Staff London John Murray Heathcote Tony 1999 The British Field Marshals 1736 1997 A Biographical Dictionary Barnsley Leo Cooper ISBN 0 85052 696 5 Hibbert Christopher 1999 The Destruction of Lord Raglan Wordsworth Editions ISBN 978 1840222098 Martin Theodore 1877 The Life of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort Volume III Smith Elder amp Co London External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to FitzRoy Somerset 1st Baron Raglan Chisholm Hugh ed 1911 Raglan Fitzroy James Henry Somerset 1st Baron Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed Cambridge University Press Parliament of the United KingdomPreceded bySir George Warrender BtGeorge Dashwood Member of Parliament for Truro1818 1820 With William Edward Tomline Succeeded bySir Hussey VivianWilliam GossettPreceded bySir Hussey VivianWilliam Gossett Member of Parliament for Truro1826 1829 With William Edward Tomline Succeeded byViscount EncombeNathaniel PeachMilitary officesPreceded bySir Herbert Taylor Military Secretary1827 1852 Succeeded byRichard AireyPreceded byThe Marquess of Anglesey Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards The Blues 1854 1855 Succeeded byThe Viscount GoughPolitical officesPreceded byThe Viscount Hardinge Master General of the Ordnance1852 1855 Succeeded byOffice abolishedPeerage of the United KingdomNew creation Baron Raglan1852 1855 Succeeded byRichard Somerset Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title FitzRoy Somerset 1st Baron Raglan amp oldid 1149788500, wikipedia, wiki, 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