Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 7.djvu/168

 166 SOMERLEY — SOMERS. SOMEBLEY. "Somehton, of So.mehi.ev, co. Southampton," Barony (Ajar), cr. 1S73 ; see '■ Normanton " Earldom [t.J er. 1S0G, under the third EarL SOMERS m SOMMERS, and SOMERS or SOMMERS OF EVESHAM, jrfavony. I, .Tuns Sumeus or Sommeus, only s. of John S, of 1G97 Clifton-on-Ncvern, co. Worcester, Attorney, by Catherine, da. of John ' Skveunk, »f Powyek, in that county, was i. I March 1650/1, in . r Worcester, and bfip. at St. Michael's, Uedwardtne, co. Worcester ; e<t. 1 ' at the College School at Worcester; mat. at Oxford (Trin. Colli, 23 Slay 1007 Student (Mid. Temple), 2-1 May 1669; Barrister, li May 1070, and Bencher, 10 May 10S9. His defence of the '' seven P.ishopH " brought liim tirst into notice, it the bur, and he was in Oct. 10SS offered (but declined) the Recordership of London. He was M l', for Worcester in the Conv. Pari, of 1899,11 also 1090-93, taking a leading part in inducing the Lords to agree with the word " abdicated " as applied to James II. He was Solicitor Gen., 1688-92. being kmyhttt, 31 Oct 16S9: Attorney Gen., 1692-9:5 ; P.O., 1093 ; L. Kkkpeh of the Great Seal and Speaker of the House of Lords, 1093-97, and U Chaniei.i.oh, 1 697- -1 700. bang or. 2 Dec. 1697, BARON SOMERS [or SOMMERS] of EVESHAM, co. WomWr^ receiving considerable grants from the King, including the manors of Keigate and Horley, co. Surrey. He was five times one of the Lords Justices (Regent*; of the Realm, ( c ) rir., 12 May to 12 Oct. 1095, 1 May to 0 Oct. 1690, 25 April to 10 Nov. 1697. 20 July to 3 Dec. 1098, ami 2 June to 18 Oct. 1099, being, for a long period, a chief administrator of public Affair*. Pres. of the Royal Society, 1098 -1703; L. High Steward. 28 to 29 March 1699. for the trials of the Earl of W arwick and Lord Mohun (Mohun's second trial ] for murder. Thro' the influence of the Tory party. William III. dismissed him from office, 17 April 1700, anil the next year he was ini peached by the House of Commons as to his conduct in advising the treaty of Partition in 1098, procuring grants for his own benefit, &c, but, as no one appeared on the day ol his trial, 17 June 1701, the charge was dismissed. He was in 17UG a Commusr. for the Union [S.] ; L. President ok the COUNCIL, 1708 — 1710 : PC- to Queen Anne in 1708 and to Geo. I. in 1711. His mind was for many months before his death pro- foundly impaired by paralysis. He it. unm. 20 April 1710, aged Gu.O 1 ; and was iiir.at {») According to Doyle he was B.A. 17 Ocl. 1678, and JI.A. 11 June IBS], but these degrees doubtless refer to "John Summers, SOU of John, of Exeter, Devon, Pleb.," who mat. (also from Trin. Coll.) 20 March 1674/5, aged 15. In Fms'i "Judges," however, it is expressly said of Lord Somen that he did not take any degree. (>') In the creations of 1784 and 1821 the word is spelt " Sommers " and under th«t spelling the title is dealt with in Debrett's (valuable) peerage for 18J9, in " Courthope " 1857. &c, tbo' the family in the 19th century affected the spelling of " Soiuers," a distinction (not, however, one used in 19th century English) without a difference. The signature as "Summers " of the first Baron of the creation of 1781 is lithographed in " Boyle ;" so also is that of the Baron, cr. in 1097, as " Sowers." It seems probable that the creation of 1697 was written with one " m " or possibly, being in Latin, with a circumflex over such " in " which m that language would signify its reduplication. ( c ) See vol. iii, p. 115, note "a," mi " Devonshire," for their names. (d) Macky writes of him when about 50 " He is believed to be the best Chancellor that ever sat in the chair and as knowing in the affairs of Foreign Courts as in the laws of his own country. . . Such a force of expression that ho convinces at the same time he informs, and all his arguments so regular that, like geometrical stairs, they support one another ... He is of grave deportment, easy and free in con- versation, something [it would have been more true to have said " very much "] of a Libertine, of middle stature, brown complexion." Dean Swift's comment thereon is " I allow him to have possessed all excellent qualities, except virtue ; he had violent passions and hardly "ohdued them by his prudence." Horace Walpole is ecstatic in his praise, saying that. " He was one of those divine men who like a chapel in a palace