William Clarke Somerville (1790–1826), soldier and planter, was born in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland, and attended the College of William and Mary, 1808–09. He reportedly served as a militia officer during the War of 1812 before going to Europe in 1817, where he traveled for a few years and wrote his Letters From Paris, on the Causes and Consequences of the French Revolution (Baltimore, 1822; Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 4 [no. 103]). Somerville sought to aid South American independence by accepting a commission in the Venezuelan army in 1820. Two years later he returned home and purchased Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia. John Quincy Adams appointed Somerville to be chargé d’affaires to Sweden in 1825, but later in the year he ordered him instead to Greece as the American agent there. Somerville only got as far as France before dying in Auxerre. He was buried at his own request at La Grange, Lafayette’s estate. In his will Somerville bequeathed most of his property to his brother but stipulated that his slaves were to be freed after reaching specified ages. The request does not seem to have been honored (Charles B. Tiernan, The Tiernan Family in Maryland [1898], 92–117; Ethel Armes, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees [Richmond, 1936], 411–21; William and Mary Provisional List description begins A Provisional List of Alumni, Grammar School Students, Members of the Faculty, and Members of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary in Virginia. From 1693 to 1888, 1941 description ends , 37; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 3:446, 447 [9 Mar. 1825]; Clay, Papers description begins James F. Hopkins and others, eds., The Papers of Henry Clay, 1959–92, 11 vols. description ends , 4:113, 255–6, 624–5, 862–3; Washington Daily National Journal, 16 Mar. 1826).

Somerville’s favor of the 8th May 1823, not found, is recorded in SJL as received 27 May from Baltimore. He enclosed therein his Letters From Paris, which he also sent to John Adams the same day and to James Madison on 9 May 1823 (MHi: Adams Papers; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 43 vols.: Congress. Ser., 17 vols.: Pres. Ser., 11 vols.: Retirement Ser., 3 vols.: Sec. of State Ser., 12 vols. description ends , Retirement Ser., 3:50).