Sir Alfred Somerset

Col. Sir Alfred Plantagenet Frederick Charles Somerset (5 September 1829 – 26 March 1915) was a British Army officer, coach driver, and aristocrat from the House of Beaufort. He was an influential resident in Enfield Town, and was a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex for 60 years.

Family Somerset was born at Hempsted Court in Gloucestershire, the only surviving son of Col. Lord John Somerset and Lady Catherine Annesley, daughter of Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Mountnorris. His father was the eighth son of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort by Elizabeth Boscawen; among his brothers was Field Marshal Lord Raglan, commander of the heavy cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo. Alfred's sister Frances was married to the banker James Whatman Bosanquet.

Military career

Somerset was gazetted in January 1847, at age 17, to the 52nd Oxfordshire Light Infantry. Four months later, he was transferred to the 13th Light Infantry, with which he served in Ireland, Scotland, and on foreign service.

In 1864, Somerset was promoted to major of the Central London Rifle Rangers. In 1866, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the West Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps, and five years later to Honorary Colonel.

Somerset was a coaching enthusiast, a popular pastime in Victorian and Edwardian England, and was a member of the Four-in-Hand Driving Club and the Coaching Club in Hyde Park.

Somerset was the owner of l'Hirondelle, a French-made four-in-hand coach with seating for more than 20 passengers. He set up a regular service for the Hirondelle, driving it from Enfield to Luton and Hitchin and back in the late 1870s with his chestnut horses. The coach left The George coaching inn in Enfield at 10:45 am and arrived at Hitchin's The Sun at 1:30 pm.

The Enfield Court Riding House on his estate, built as a riding school, was frequently opened to the public for free and it became a popular a dancing and musical venue in Enfield. Once a week, the Enfield Town Silver Prize Band entertained audiences. With capacity for nearly 700, it was the site of fancy dress ball during the Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra. He was knighted in the same order at the 1902 Coronation Honours.

They had one daughter, Gwendolin Adelaide Katherine Georgiana Matilda, who married her second cousin Arthur William FitzRoy Somerset, son of Alfred's uncle Lord William Somerset.

He died in 1915 at Enfield Court.