James Somervell | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Ayr Burghs | |
In office 25 March 1890[1] – 28 June 1892[1] | |
Preceded by | John Sinclair |
Succeeded by | William Birkmyre |
Majority | 130[1] |
Personal details | |
Born | 1845[2] |
Died | 1924[2] |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse | Kathleen Emilie Maclaine[3] |
Alma mater | University of Oxford |
Military service | |
Branch/service | British Army |
Rank | Captain[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]