William Somervile or Somerville (2 September 1675 – 19 July 1742) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

.

Ancestry

The name Somervile is derived from a town near Caen in Normandy subsequently named Somervile.

The first of the Somerviles was Sir Gaulter de Somervile, who fought with William the Conqueror in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He died at the end of the Eleventh Century and left three sons. William Somervile descended from the third son and was the last of the Somervile house in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Their crest had inscribed on it, "The Woe Laird"

His family also includes other famous figures in Scottish history. One of his ancestors was named William de Somervile, who according to legend killed the last snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. Also Philip of Whichnow, another ancestor, instituted the tradition of the Dunmow Flitch which is giving a gift of bacon

Bacon

Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...

 to two people who have been married a year without having an argument.
His son Sir Thomas joined William Wallace

William Wallace

Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....

 to fight for the freedom of Scotland. James Somervile served with the French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 and Venetian service and when he returned home he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

Adult life

Somervile was the eldest son of a country gentleman, and was born at Edstone, in the parish of Warren, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

 in 1677. He was educated at Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

 and at New College, Oxford

New College, Oxford

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

, where he studied law. While in school he did not show any hint of great knowledge of literature or seem to have a knack for writing poetry. His love of poetry did not come until he was of middle age. He was a part of the Whig Party. After his father's death in 1705 he lived on his estate. He was known to be very hospitable and convivial. This however plunged him into debt, which carried a heavy burden and consequently put him into the habits that ultimately shortened his life. He was not someone one would expect to become a poet, he rather enjoyed sports including horseback riding and hunting.

While he lived on the estate left to him by his father in 1705. He devoted himself to field sports, which supplied the subjects of his best-known poems. His publications were The Two Springs (1725), a fable; Occasional Poems ... (1727); "The Chace" ("The Chase") (1735); Hobbinol, or the Rural Games (1740), a burlesque poem describing the Cotswold Games

Cotswold Games

The Cotswold Olimpick Games is an annual public celebration of games and sports now held on the Friday after Spring Bank Holiday near Chipping Campden, in the Cotswolds of England. The Games probably began in 1612, and have continued on and off to the present day. They were started by a local...

; and Field Sports (1742), a poem on hawking. While he wrote many types of poetry he never became very famous because of it. It is said that he "writes very well for a gentleman."
"The Two Springs" was the favorite of his poems

"The Chace" ("The Chase") is perhaps his most famous poem which is in blank verse and due to his knowledge of sports he was able to write this poem with great enthusiasm.
His Chase passed through many editions. It was illustrated by Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick was an English wood engraver and ornithologist.- Early life and apprenticeship :Bewick was born at Cherryburn House in the village of Mickley, in the parish of Ovingham, Northumberland, England, near Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 August 1753...

 (1796), by Thomas Stothard (1800), and by Hugh Thomson (1896), with a preface by RF Sharp.

He died on July 19, 1742 and was buried at Wotton, near Henley on Arden. He was 66. When he died his vast wealth and riches passed on to his mother who lived to be ninety.
When he died it was written-" Our old friend Somervile is dead! I did not imagine I could have been so sorry as I find myself on this occasion"

External links

• http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/BiographyRecord.php?action=GET&bioid=35953
• http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/BiographyRecord.php?action=GET&bioid=35953
• http://books.google.com/books/about/The_poems_of_William_Somervile.html?id=PihAAAAAYAAJ
• http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/somervile.htm