Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset 8th Duke of Beaufort 1824 – 1899

Captain Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset 8th Duke of Beaufort KG PC 1824 – 1899 styled Marquess of Worcester from 1835 to 1853, was a British peer, soldier and politician, the son of Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort.

Henry Charles Fitzroy Somerset was an ardent supporter of homeopathy (Bernard Shaw, Leonard W. Conolly (Ed.), Mrs. Warren’s Profession, (Broadview Press, 13 Sep 2005). Page 62.), and he was a patient of Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, and a friend of James Young Simpson.

Henry Charles Fitzroy Somerset’s father Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort, an  Aide de Camp to Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington, was the President of the British Homeopathic Association in 1847 ( John James Drysdale, John Rutherford Russell, Robert Ellis Dudgeon,  The British Journal of Homeopathy, (Arthur Hall & Co, 25 Paternoster Row, London; William Headland, 16 Princess Street Hanover Square, London; Henry Turner, 26 Piccadilly, Manchester; John Walker, 97 Bold Street, Liverpool; Maclachlan and Stewart & Co, Edinburgh, 1847). Page 550), and the Vice Patron of the London Homeopathic Hospital (George Atkin (ed.), The British and Foreign Homeopathic Medical Directory and Record, (Groombridge & Sons, 1853). Page 36).

Henry Charles Fitzroy Somerset’s mother, Emily Frances Duchess of Beaufort was the daughter of Culling Charles Smith, the Chairman of the London Homeopathic Hospital, on the committee of the British Homeopathic Association.

Melanie Hahnemann was a close friend of the Princess de Salm Dyke, who in 1808 together with the Countess of Beaufort (Henry Charles’s mother) and Sophie de Senneterre Renneville, published a journal Athene des Dames as a forum for discussion for women.

The Annual Festival in aid of the funds of the Charity, and in commemoration of the opening of the London Homeopathic Hospital established in London, will be held at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate street, on Thursday, the 10th of April 1851, the anniversary of the birth of Samuel Hahnemann:

The Most Noble the Marquis of Worcester, M.P., V.P., in the chair.

STEWARDS: Henry William Paget Marquess of Anglesey, George Stanhope 6th Earl of Chesterfield, Arthur Algernon Capell 6th Earl of Essex, John Robert Townshend 1st Earl Sydney, John Gray 15th Lord Gray, Arthur de Vere Capell Viscount Malden, Francis Arthur Gordon, Lord Clarence Paget, Lord Alfred Paget, Culling Charles Smith, Marmaduke Blake Sampson, Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, Nathaniel Barton, J. Askew, Henry Banister, Henry Bateman 1806-1880, Capt. Branford, F Blake, Hugh Cameron, Captain Chapman, H Cholmondeley, John Burgh Crampern, Edward Cromwell Disbrowe, W. Dutton, Edward Esdaile, W. M. Fache, Fr. Fuller, H Goez, John Gosnell, George Hallett, Edward Hamilton, J Huggins, P Hughes, John Peake Knight, Joseph Kidd, Thomas Robinson Leadam, Thomas Mackern, Victor Massol, J Mayne, Jas Bell Metcalfe, C T P Metcalfe, Samuel Thomas Partridge, T Piper, W Piper, R Pope, Henry Reynolds, Albert Robinson, Henry Rosher, C J Sanders, W Scorer, Rittson Southall, T Spicer, J Smith, Charles Snewin, Charles Trueman, Thomas Uwins, W. Watkins, J Wisewould, David William Witton, Stephen Yeldham, J G Young,

The responsibility of Stewards is limited to the dinner ticket, 21s., and gentlemen who will kindly undertake the office are respectfully requested to forward their names to any of the Stewards; or to the Hon. Secretary at the Hospital. 32. Golden-square.  Ralph Buchan, Hon. Sec.

The supporters of homeopathy are now striving to establish a large metropolitan hospital, which shall be conducted according to the principles inculcated by Samuel Hahnemann, which will be a school for homeopathic students, and which will afford to allopathic physicians the means of inquiring into the merits of the new doctrine and practice.

A public dinner in aid of the building fund of this charity took place on Wednesday, April 21 at Willis’s Rooms, when the Duke of Beaufort, George Ponsonby O’Callaghan 2nd Viscount Lismore, Arthur de Vere Capell Viscount Malden, Henry Robinson Montagu 6th Baron Rokeby, Lord Grey de Wilton, Lord Cosmo Russell, Robert Grosvenor, Mr Truman MP, Major Blake, Edmund Gardiner Fishbourne, Mr Pritchard [High Bailiff of Southwark], Mr Sheriff Rutherford, Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, John Rutherford Russell, and about 150 other gentlemen, known as supporters and practitioners of homeopathy in the metropolis and in the provinces.

The usual toasts were given, viz– “The Queen;” “The Prince Consort and the Royal Family;” and “The Army and Navy,” responded to by Henry Robinson Montagu 6th Baron Rokeby and Edmund Gardiner Fishbourne, who alluded to their experience of the benefits personally derived by them from homeopathy during their service in the Niger expedition and in the Crimea. The Chairman then proposed “Success to the London Homeopathic Hospital,” which was enthusiastically received.

The homeopathic hospital in Smyrna, was also supported by: Arthur Algernon Capell 6th Earl of Essex, Lord Lovaine MP (Algernon George Percy 6th Duke of Northumberland), James Gambier 1st Baron Gambier, George Wyndham 1st Baron Leconfield, Colonel Taylor, Edmund Gardiner Fishbourne, Robert Grosvenor 1st Baron Ebury, Richard Whately Archbishop of Dublin, Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset 8th Duke of Beaufort, Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington, James Hamilton 1st Duke of Abercorn, and 18 other members of the House of Lords, 43 Peer’s sons, Baronets and Members of Parliament, 17 Generals, 33 Field Officers, 43 other Officers of the Army, 2 Admirals, 15 Captains of the navy, 65 Clergymen, 45 Justices of the Peace, Barristers and Solicitors, and 314 Bankers, Merchants and others.

In 1866, Earl Amherst was on the Committee of the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method, with Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset 8th Duke of Beaufort, Ralph Buchan, William Alleyne Cecil Lord Burghley 3rd Marquess of Exeter, George Thomas Keppel 6th Earl of Albemarle, William Coutts Keppel Viscount Bury 7th Earl of Albemarle (the Earl of Albemarle’s son), James Key Caird 1st Baronet (Vice Chairman), Colonel Challoner, George Grimston Craven 3rd Earl of Craven, Henry William Dashwood 5th Baronet, Patrick Dudgeon, Robert Grosvenor 1st Baron Ebury, Francis Richard Charteris 10th Earl of Wemyss Lord Elcho, Arthur Algernon Capell 6th Earl of Essex, Richard Grosvenor Earl Grosvenor 2nd Marquess of Westminster, Philip Howard Frere, Edward Kerrison, Henry Charles Keith Petty Fitzmaurice 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Lord Llanover, Colonel Farnaby Lennard, George Loch, Archibald Keppel MacDonald, Arthur de Vere Capell Viscount Malden, John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough (Chairman), Frederick Francis Maude, William Miles, James Moore, Charles Gordon Lennox 5th Duke of Richmond, Charles Marsham 3rd Earl of Romney, Sir Anthony Rothschild, John Villiers Shelley, John Robert Townshend 1st Earl Sydney, Lt. Colonel Charles Towneley, Augustus Henry Vernon, William Warren Vernon, Arthur Richard Wellesley 2nd Duke of Wellington (1807-1884), William Wells,

In 1866, the Treasury placed rooms at Adelphi Terrace at the disposal of John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough, who was the Chairman of the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method, based on the research done in Belgium by Edward Hamilton, with John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough overseeing the work of Edward Hamilton, George Lennox Moore, James Moore and Alfred Crosby Pope.

William Coutts Keppel Viscount Bury 7th Earl of Albemarle issued an address or report for the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method in 1866. Bury reported that the Dutch had experienced such success with homeopathy against that cattle plague, that they had authorised Edward Hamilton to visit Holland to investigate this.

Edward Hamilton discovered that the Dutch had treated 4798 cattle, 1031 were destroyed = 3767 were treated (with a mixture of allopathic and homeopathic treatments), the survival rate for the beasts treated was 45%, and the survival rate for the beasts treated only by homeopathy was 72-5%.

The Dutch Government had agreed to allow E Seutin, a homeopathic chemist, the total control of infected cattle in Matterness, and initially, E Seutin saved 70% of the cattle, though latterly, he had saved 9 out of every 10 beasts brought to him for treatment, and E Seutin’s use of homeoprophylaxic treatment of unifected beasts brought the epidemic under control entirely within four weeks. Matterness was pronounced free from infection and it has remained thus ever since. The remedies used were arsenicum, phosphorus, phos ac, rhus tox and sulphur.

In 1866, George Lennox Moore became involved with Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method, alongside Edward Hamilton and Alfred Crosby Pope, and overseen by John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough.

George Lennox Moore wrote a detailed report on these trials, including a refutation of the falsities published in _The Lancet__ _regarding the homeopathic treatment of the cattle plague, attacking William Coutts Keppel Viscount Bury 7th Earl of Albemarle and accusing him of ‘being completely misinformed on this matter‘, and inventing a trail of misleading mistruths about the situation.

The orthodox statistics of this clinical trial revealed 8640 cases, 8% killed, 77% died and 15% recovered, though John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough subsequently issued the interim homeopathic results claiming up to 50% recovery rates with arsenicum, belladonna, phosphorus, rhus tox and turpentine as the main homeopathic remedies used.

The Times wrote an article wishing the homeopaths success in these homeopathic trials, but they also made a pithy comment that the allopaths would probably rather see all the cattle die than have homeopathy proved successfull.

The final report on the homeopathic trials in the treatment of cattle plague was issued by John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough. The orthodox statistics of this clinical trial revealed 8640 cases, 8% killed, 77% died and 15% recovered, though John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough subsequently issued the interim homeopathic results claiming up to 50% recovery rates with arsenicum, belladonna, phosphorus, rhus tox and turpentine as the main homeopathic remedies used.

Of course, the ‘valuable and so far successful’ results of the homeopathic trials so far outstripped orthodox treatments, the homeopathic trials were immediately postponed by ‘orthodox sources’.

Somerset was educated at Eton College. He was Aide de Camp to Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington in 1842 and Aide de Camp to Viscount Hardinge between 1842 and 1846. He gained the rank of Lieutenant in 1843 in the service of the 1st Life Guards and Captain in 1847, in the service of the 7th Dragoons.

Somerset was Conservative Member of Parliament for East Gloucestershire between 1846 and 1853, High Steward of Bristol between 1854 and 1899 and Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire between 1867 and 1899.

He held the office of Master of the Horse between 1858 and 1859 and between 1866 and 1868, was invested as a Privy Counsellor on 26 February 1858 and as a Knight of the Order of the Garter (K.G.) on 19 March 1867.

He conceived and planned the Badminton Library series of sporting books, the publication of which began in 1885 with a volume on Hunting, and acted as its overseeing editor.

Somerset married Lady Georgiana Charlotte Curzon (1825–1906), daughter of Richard Curzon Howe, 1st Earl Howe, on 3 July 1845. They had five children:

• Henry Adelbert Wellington FitzRoy Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort, married Louise Emily Harford and had children.

• Lord Henry Richard Charles Somerset, married Lady Isabella Caroline Cocks and had children.

• Major Lord Henry Arthur George Somerset, died unmarried.

• Major Lord Henry Edward Brudenell Somerset (1853–1897), married Fanny Julia Dixie and had children.

• Blanche Elizabeth Adelaide Somerset (c. 1854–1897), married John Beresford, 5th Marquess of Waterford and had children.

Somerset died in 1899, aged 75 at Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire, from gout and was buried on 5 May 1899 at Badminton House.

Of interest:

Francis Beaufort 1774 - 1857 was a colleague of Bartholomew Sulivan who sailed with Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle as Naval officer, hydrographer and Lieutenant. Charles Darwin was convinced to seek the help of homeopath James Manby Gully for his heath problems by Bartholomew Sulivan and by his cousin William Darwin Fox.