FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan: Difference between revisions

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{{tree list}}
* [[Napoleonic Wars]]<br />

** [[Peninsular War]]

** [[Hundred Days]]

* [[Crimean War]]

Promoted to [[lieutenant]] on 1 June 1805,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15811|page=718|date=28 May 1805}}</ref> Somerset accompanied [[Arthur Paget (diplomat)|Sir Arthur Paget]] on his visit to [[Selim III|Sultan Selim III]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]], who had been aligning himself too closely with France, in 1807.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26007?docPos=1|title=FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26007 |access-date=9 February 2014|last1=Lloyd |first1=E. M. |editor-first1=John |editor-last1=Sweetman }}</ref> He became a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in the [[43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot|43rd Regiment of Foot]] on 5 May 1808 shortly before his appointment as [[aide-de-camp]] to [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Sir Arthur Wellesley]] in July 1808.<ref name=heath267/> Somerset accompanied Wellesley's Army when it was sent to [[Portugal]] later that month.<ref name=heath267/> 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.<ref name=heath267/> 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 Oñoro]] in May 1811.<ref name=heath267/> Promoted to [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Major (rank)|major]] on 9 June 1811, he also took part in the [[Battle of El Bodón]] in September 1811.<ref name=heath267/> He specially distinguished himself at the [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|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.<ref name=odnb/>

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 [[amputation|amputated]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17028|page=1216|date=22 June 1815}}</ref> (and then demanded his arm back so he could retrieve the ring that his wife had given him).<ref name=heath268>Heathcote, p. 268</ref>

Promoted to [[colonel]] and appointed an [[aide-de-camp]] to the [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince Regent]] on 28 August 1815,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17057|page=1787|date=2 September 1815}}</ref> he was appointed a Knight of the [[Bavaria]]n [[Military Order of Max Joseph]] on 3 October 1815.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17067|page=2025|date=3 October 1815}}</ref> He remained with the [[Army of Occupation (France)|Army of Occupation in France]] until May 1816 when he returned to the post of secretary at the British Embassy in [[Paris]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17137|page=931|date=18 May 1816}}</ref>

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 (1854–55)|Siege of Sevastopol]] owing to shortages of food and clothing<ref>Martin, p. 181</ref> although this, in part, was the fault of the home authorities who failed to provide adequate logistical support.<ref name=odnb/> A piecemeal allied assault on Sevastopol on 18 June 1855 was a complete failure.<ref name=odnb/> 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 [[Major depressive disorder|depression]].<ref name=odnb/> His body was embalmed, his heart buried in the garden of his headquarters in Sevastopol,<ref name="LN 1869">{{cite news|last1=Jackson|first1=Mason|title=The Crimea revisited |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/HN3100078846/ILN?u=wes_ttda&sid=bookmark-ILN&xid=59d976ee |access-date=8 August 2024 |issue=1539, Volume: 54 |publisher=The Illustrated London News |date=1869-05-22 |pages=3-8 |quote="There is a stone in the garden with an inscription, which reads as follows:- To the Memory of Field Marshal Lord Raglan, G.C.B., Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the Crimea, died June 28, 1855. This inscription does not state the real purpose for which the stone was erected. It is known that Lord Raglan's body was embalmed before it was sent to England, and this marks the spot where his heart was buried."}}</ref> and his body brought home and interred at [[St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton]].<ref name=heath268/>

[[File:Portrait of Emily Harriet Wellesley-Pole, (Lady FitzRoy Somerset, after Thomas LawrenceRaglan).jpg|thumb|[[Emily, Lady Raglan|Emily Harriet Wellesley-Pole, Lady FitzRoy Somerset]] (afterby [[Thomas Lawrence]]). ]]

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[[Category:RoyaltyBritish royalty and nobility with disabilities]]