FitzRoy Somerset

Lord FitzRoy James Henry Somerset was an officer who served under Lord Wellington during both the Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign.

Jonathan Strange first encountered Somerset following the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812, at which time Somerset was serving as Lord Wellington's Military Secretary [31]. Lord Somerset was later present when Strange re-animated seventeen dead Neapolitan soldiers in order to question them about the location of several cannons they had captured from the French, and was startled by the language they spoke upon their revival, which Strange said was one of the languages of Hell. He would later write to his brother on September 2 of that year about the subsequent disposal of the dead — but still animated — soldiers, saying "In the end we made a bonfire and threw them on it."[31].

He later rejoined Wellington when Buonaparte escaped his exile in 1815, and was present at both Quatre Bras and Waterloo. In the former battle he again encountered Mr Strange [40]. At Waterloo, Somerset was injured so badly that he had to have his arm removed, which he later demanded back so he could retrieve a ring that his wife had given him.*

More about Lord Somerset may be found here.

Notes

*. The vexations caused by the loss of his arm were such that Lord Somerset invented what became known as the Raglan sleeve — a sleeve that joins a garment at the collar rather than the shoulder — to assist him in dressing himself.