Lord Arthur Somerset
{{Short description|British Noble}}
{{Other people|Arthur Somerset}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox noble|
| name = Lord Arthur Somerset
| title =
| image = Lord Arthur Somerset.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Lord Arthur Somerset
|CoA=| spouse =
| issue =
|tenure=|predecessor=|successor=| full name =
| noble family = Beaufort
| father = Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
| mother = Georgiana Charlotte Curzon
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1851|11|17|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1926|5|26|1851|11|17|df=y}}
| death_place = Hyères, France
|}}
Major Lord Henry Arthur George Somerset, DL (17 November 1851 – 26 May 1926) was the third son of the 8th Duke of Beaufort and his wife, the former Lady Georgiana Curzon.
Biography
Somerset joined the Royal Horse Guards with the purchase of a commission as cornet in 1869.{{London Gazette|issue=23521|page=4251|date=30 July 1869}} He was promoted to lieutenant in 1871,{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=23768|page=3643|date=18 August 1871}} captain in 1877{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=24532|page=7250|date=18 December 1877}} and major in 1883.{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=25268|page=4449|date=11 September 1883}} In 1885 he was appointed to succeed Nigel Kingscote as superintendent of the stables and an extra equerry-in-waiting to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII).{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=25468|page=2104|date=8 May 1885}}
Lord Arthur Somerset was linked with the Cleveland Street scandal, in which he was identified and named by several male prostitutes as a customer of their services. He was interviewed by the police on 7 August 1889, and although the record of the interview has not survived, it resulted in a report being made by the Attorney-General, Solicitor-General and Director of Prosecutions urging that proceedings should be taken against him under section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. A piece of paper was pasted over Somerset's name in the report, as it was deemed so sensitive. It is believed that he gave the police the initials of a member of the royal family "P. A. V.", which stood for Prince Albert Victor, the second in line to the throne, who – he alleged – also frequented the brothel.
After that, the Director was told that the Home Secretary wished him to take no action for the moment.H. Montgomery Hyde, "The Cleveland Street Scandal" (W.H. Allen Ltd, 1976), p. 32-3. The police obtained a further statement implicating Somerset, while Somerset arranged for his solicitor to act in the defence of the boys arrested over the scandal. After the police saw him for a second time on 22 August, Somerset obtained leave from his regiment and permission to go abroad.H. Montgomery Hyde, "The Cleveland Street Scandal" (W.H. Allen Ltd, 1976), p. 35.
Lord Arthur went to Bad Homburg in Germany, although he returned to England. When tipped off in September that charges were imminent, he fled to France to avoid them. In November he resigned his Army commission{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=25990|page=5853|date=5 November 1889}} and his appointments in the Prince of Wales's household.{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=25991|page=5919|date=8 November 1889}} From there he travelled through Constantinople, Budapest, Vienna, and back to France, where he settled, living with an Englishman, James Neale,{{citation |title=The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914 |first=Simon |last=Heffer |year=2017 |publisher=Random House}} until his death in 1926, aged 74.{{citation |title=Sodom on the Thames: Sex, Love, And Scandal in Wilde Times |first=Morris B. |last=Kaplan |year=2005 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-3678-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sodomonthamessex00kapl }}
References
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Category:19th-century British LGBTQ people
Category:Deputy lieutenants of Wiltshire
Category:Gay military personnel
Category:British LGBTQ military personnel
Category:Royal Horse Guards officers
Category:Younger sons of dukes
Category:20th-century British LGBTQ people
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