James Somervell
Sketch of James Somervell published in The Graphic after his 1890 by-election win
Member of Parliament
for Ayr Burghs
In office
25 March 1890[1] – 28 June 1892[1]
Preceded byJohn Sinclair
Succeeded byWilliam Birkmyre
Majority130[1]
Personal details
Born1845[2]
Died1924[2]
Political partyConservative
SpouseKathleen Emilie Maclaine[3]
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Military service
Branch/service British Army
RankCaptain[4][5]

James Somervell (1845–1924) was Conservative MP for Ayr Burghs. He won a by-election in 1890,[1] but he lost his seat to William Birkmyre, the Liberal candidate, in the 1892 general election.[1] He had earlier contested the 1885 general election for the Conservatives, but lost to the Scottish Liberal Party candidate Archibald Corbett.[6]

Somervell inherited Sorn Castle and its estate from his father Graham Somervell (born Graham Russell) in 1881, but sold it to the McIntyre family in 1907.[2][7]

Somervell studied at Harrow School and University of Oxford and was called to the bar in 1870.[8] In 1884 he set up the company Sorn Dairy Supply which sold dairy products from the estate in Sorn through a number of premises in Glasgow.[9] The Glasgow International Exhibition (1901) included a working model dairy farm run by Somervell.[10]

Somervell married Kathleen Emilie Maclaine in 1892 and they had four children (one died at a very young age), but after his wife discovered he was having an affair with the children's former nurse that produced a child, she sought a divorce that was granted in 1900.[3][11]

In 1904 Somervell stood trial in the High Court in Edinburgh on a charge of assaulting and firing a gun at the accountant Francis More who administered the Sorn Castle estate. More claimed that Somervell threatened to shoot him and the gun went off during a subsequent struggle, while Somervell claimed that More "rushed" him after noticing the gun in his pocket and it was then discharged during the struggle. Somervell was acquitted by the jury.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mr James Somervell". TheyWorkForYou.com. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 J. T. Ward (1967–69). "Ayrshire Landed Estates in the Nineteenth Century" (PDF). Ayrshire Collection VIII.
  3. 1 2 "Somervell Divorce Case - Divorce Granted". Aberdeen Weekly Journal and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland. 25 July 1900.
  4. ↑ A H Millar (1885). Historical and descriptive accounts of the Castles and mansions of Ayrshire.
  5. ↑ W S Cooper (1881). A history of the Ayrshire yeomanry cavalry.
  6. ↑ The Constitutional Year Book. Conservative Central Office. 1904.
  7. ↑ "The History of Sorn Castle". Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  8. ↑ "Mr James Somervell, M.P.". The Graphic: An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper. 12 April 1890.
  9. ↑ Rivers of the North: Their Cities and their Commerce. 1894.
  10. ↑ "Sorn Dairy Supply". AyrshireHistory.com.
  11. ↑ "The Amours of Somervell of Sorn". Auckland Star. 1 September 1900.
  12. ↑ "The Charge Against Mr James Somervell". The Times. 28 September 1904.
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