No. 5.
JOHN, FIRST LORD SOM̅ERS, LORD CHANCELLOR.
Violet velvet coat. Lace cravat. Fall wig.
BORN 1652, DIED 1716.
By Sir Godfrey Kneller.
THE fine old cathedral city of Worcester is so justly proud of its noble citizen, the first Lord Som̅ers, that different districts have contested the honour of his birthplace; but the best evidence goes to prove that he was born at his father’s estate of Whiteladies, which at that period was not included in the precincts of the city.
The house was a dissolved Carthusian nunnery, and had been granted to the Som̅ers family at the time of the Reformation.
For two generations before the birth of Lord Som̅ers, the name was spelled without the final s, which probably gave rise to the supposition that it had a common origin with that of Van Somer, the famous Flemish painter. On the other hand, some writers contend that the name was derived from a St. Omer, as in the case of St. Maur, St. Leger, and the like.
Be this as it may, they undoubtedly claimed kinship with the gallant admiral, Sir George Somers, who rediscovered the island (or rather the cluster of islands) of Bermuda, so called after one Juan Bermudez, ‘who was driven thereon by force of tempest.’ The place did not enjoy a good reputation; it was termed ‘the island of divelles,’ or the ‘enchanted isle,’ and was supposed to harbour sea-monsters, mermen, and ‘such cattle,’ from which legend doubtless sprang Setebos and Caliban. Admiral Somers was also wrecked here, and thus rediscovered the whereabouts which had been lost; and he was most desirous it should bear his name, and so it is still called Bermuda or Somers’ (erroneously Summer’s) island.