Aylmer H.T.H. Somerset
(Rilfe Brigade) 
(1835-1882)
5 April 1862

Volume 6, page 169, sitting number 7544

[The Silvy daybooks identify the sitter as Aylmer H.T.H. Somerset, Esq.’ / Rifle Brigade.]

Born on 30 November 1835 at Clifton, Aylmer Howard Tynte Henry Somerset was the seventh [one source says fifth] son of the Reverend and Right Honourable Lord William George Henry Somerset and his wife Elizabeth née Boscawen. His grandfather was Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort. 

He was baptised at Great Badminton in Gloucestershire on 19 June 1838. 

He joined the Rifle Brigade (2nd Battalion) as an Ensign in 1855, becoming a Captain by purchase in August 1867. In November 1879 he was promoted to the rank of Major in recognition of his service during the Anglo-Zulu War of that year. According to Mackinnon and Shadbolt, he ‘served during the war, first as Staff Officer at the Durban base of operations, and afterwards as Commandant at Ladysmith, on the lines of communication.’ 

He died on 8 April 1882, aged 46, at the Royal Hotel, Devonport, Devon. He left an estate valued at £4370.

‘The death is announced as having taken place at Devonport, on Easter Eve, in his forty-seventh year, of Major Aylmer Howard Tynte Henry Somerset, of the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade. Major Somerset, who was the fifth [sic] son of the late Right Hon. And Rev. Lord William Somerset, entered the Service as ensign on the 21st November, 1855. He embarked for the Gold Coast with his regiment, and served throughout the second phase of the Ashantee war, in 1874, including the battle of Amoaful, battle of Ordahsu, and capture of Coomassie (mentioned in Sir A. Alison’s report and awarded a medal with clasp). During the Zulu war of 1879 he acted first as staff officer at the Durban base of operations and afterwards as commandant at Ladysmith on the line of communications (brevet of major and medal)’ (Naval and Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service, 19 April 1882).