Lady Henry Somerset

Isabella Caroline Somerset, Lady Henry Somerset (née Somers-Cocks; 3 August 1851 – 12 March 1921), styled Lady Isabella Somers-Cocks from 5 October 1852 to 6 February 1872, was a British philanthropist, temperance leader and campaigner for women's rights. As president of the British Women's Temperance Association, she spoke at the first World's Woman's Christian Temperance Association convention in Boston in 1891.

Early life She was born in London as the first of three daughters of Charles Somers-Cocks, 3rd Earl Somers, and Virginia (née Pattle). She was maternally a niece of the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and first cousin of the writer Virginia Woolf's mother, Julia Stephen. Lady Isabella was given a private education. As she had no brothers, she and her sister Adeline were co-heiresses to their father, the third sister, Virginia, having died of diphtheria as a child.

Marriage scandal Lady Isabella married Lord Henry Somerset on 6 February 1872, and became known as Lady Henry Somerset. The match appeared to be perfect. Her husband was the second son of Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort, and as such stood to inherit almost nothing, unlike her. On 18 May 1874, a son was born to the couple and named Henry Charles Somers Augustus. However, Lord Henry was homosexual, and the marriage failed.

Temperance movement

Lady Henry became interested in the temperance movement after her close friend committed suicide while intoxicated. Eloquent and compelling, she was elected president of the British Women's Temperance Association in 1890. The next year, she travelled to the United States, where she met Frances Willard, president of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Association, and spoke at the first World's WCTA convention in Boston. Willard soon had her elected vice-president of the organisation and paid her extended visits in Britain several times. By 1897, her friendship with Basil Wilberforce helped her reconcile with the Church of England. She was a follower of Joseph Wallace's diet which eschewed all fermented foods and salt.

Later life and death

Lady Henry devoted the rest of her life to the Duxhurst Industrial Farm Colony, in Reigate, which she had opened in 1895. It was a facility intended to rehabilitate alcoholics, which she saw as her most important task. Her London flat was damaged during a Zeppelin raid in the First World War. She continued to work hard for the benefit of the poor, particularly women, using her wealth and prestige. She died in London on 12 March 1921 following a short illness. She was survived by her estranged husband and by their only child, who married Lady Katherine, a daughter of William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans. When her husband's elder brother's male line died out in 1984, Lady Henry's great-grandson David became the 11th Duke of Beaufort.

She is buried in Brookwood Cemetery.

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