| Authorised form of name | Somerset; Charles (1660 - 1698); Marquess of Worcester; nobleman and politician |
| Dates | 1660 - 1698 |
| Nationality | British |
| Date of birth | December 1660 |
| Place of death | Wales |
| Date of death | 13 July 1698 |
| Dates and places | Baptism:
St Martin's-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London, England, Europe (December 1660)
Burial:
Raglan, Wales, Europe |
| Activity | Education:
Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1677; MA 1682)
Career:
Left for continent on 6 May 1673, and kept a diary of his travels; Commissioner for Assessment for Brecon (1677-1679), and Gloucestershire, Middlesex, Monmouth and Brecon (1689-1690); travelled to the Netherlands (1681); Colonel of Militia, Bristol (1682-1685); Member of the Council in the Marches of Wales (1682-1689); Custos Rotulorum for Radnorshire (1682-1689); Deputy Lieutenant of Monmouthshire (1683-1687), for Wiltshire (1683-1688), and for Gloucestershire (1685-1687); Member of the Committee of the HEIC (1683-1691); Colonel of a regiment of foot (1685-1687); MP for Monmouthshire (1685-1687, 1689-1695); died in a coach accident
Honours:
Styled as Lord Herbert of Raglan from 1667 to 1682, then Marquess of Worcester. |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 04/06/1673 |
| Proposer | John Hoskyns |
| Other Royal Society activity | Youngest Fellow ever elected by the Royal Society (aged 12); Proposed as a candidate on 7 May 1673 |
| Relationships | Parents: Henry Somerset, 1st Duke of Beaufort, and Mary Capel; predeceased his father
Married: Rebecca Child
Children: Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort; Lady Henrietta Somerset
Additional relatives: uncle-by-marriage Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (FRS 1684); cousin Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk (FRS 1672) |
| General context | After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Somerset started associating with Jacobite loyalists although there is some uncertaintiy about his exact political and religious affiliations. He was not particularly active in the Royal Society's work. He was a committee member of the Honorable East India Company (HEIC), an English and later British company formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region. The company ended up seizing control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent (and briefly Afghanistan) and colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. In 1689, he held £1,000 of company stock. |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; GEC; Hunter; Foster; Henning
Notes:
Diary of his travels from 1673 in archives of Duke of Beaufort [Dr Anne Benson transcribing] |
| Royal Society code | NA5755 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EL/H3/25 | Letter, from Herbert to Henry Oldenburg, dated at Aix | 12 April 1674 |
| EL/H3/26 | Letter, from Herbert to Henry Oldenburg, dated at Blois | 18 July 1674 |
| EL/O2/117 | Letter, from Henry Oldenburg to Charles Somerset, dated at London | 10 June 1673 |
| EL/H3/27 | Letter, from Herbert to Henry Oldenburg, dated at Orleans | 25 March 1675 |
| EL/O2/150 | Letter, from Henry Oldenburg to Charles Somerset, dated at London | 19 August 1674 |
| EL/O2/124 | Letter, from Henry Oldenburg to Charles Somerset, dated at London | 11 August 1673 |
| MC/7/15 | Letter from H [Henry] Dircks, 7 Queen Street, Place, City, to Walter White, [Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society] | 5 February 1864 |
| MC/7 | Volume 7 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1864-1866 |