Arthur Somerset Sr.

Arthur William FitzRoy Somerset (20 September 1855 – 8 January 1937) was an English first-class cricketer.

Somerset was born in Chatham, Kent, and educated at Wellington College, Berkshire. After some years in Australia he returned to England in 1881, living in Castle Goring, a country house now in the town of Worthing in Sussex, and former home of Sir Bysshe Shelley, grandfather of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was well known for his hospitality at Castle Goring. He died there in January 1937, aged 81.

Somerset was a batsman who also bowled fast occasionally in his early years and kept wicket occasionally later. He played 48 games of first-class cricket between 1891 and 1913, some of them in England for Sussex and other teams. Most of his first-class cricket was played on three tours of the West Indies: with Lord Brackley's XI in 1904–05, and on two Marylebone Cricket Club tours which he also captained, in 1910–11 and 1912–13. His highest score was 68 not out against Jamaica on the 1904–05 tour.

Family
Somerset is the great-grandson of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort and the son of Colonel FitzRoy Molyneux Henry Somerset and Jemima Drummond Nairne. He married his 2nd cousin Gwendolin Adelaide Katherine Georgiana Matilda Somerset, daughter of Sir Alfred Plantagenet Frederick Charles Somerset and Adelaide Harriet Brooke-Pechell, on 25 July 1887. He held the offices of Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex and Justice of the Peace. The children of Arthur William FitzRoy Somerset and Gwendolin Adelaide Katherine Georgiana Matilda Somerset are:
 * 1) Adelaide Millicent Blanche Gwendolen Somerset, b. 13 Oct 1888, d. 20 Jan 1958
 * 2) Arthur Plantagenet Francis Cecil Somerset, b. 28 Sep 1889, d. 13 Oct 1957
 * 3) Lieutenant FitzRoy Aubrey Somerset, b. 21 Dec 1892, d. 7 Jul 1916