SOMERVILLE, HUGH [SSNE 7005]

Surname

SOMERVILLE, SOMMERVILLE, SOMERVAILE, SUMMERVILLE

First name

HUGH

Title/rank

COLONEL

Nationality

SCOT

Text source

Colonel Hugh Somerville is thought to have been Gustav II Adolf of Sweden's Aid de Campe at the time of his death at Lutzen in 1632. He is attributed with recovering the king's spurs and bringing them to Scotland where they were later given to the Museum of Scottish Antiquities at Edinburgh. He has also been linked to the sword of Gustav II Adolf which is in the custody of the Masonic Temple in Aberdeen, having been used for many years by the St Machar Lodge. As he does not appear as colonel of a Swedish regiment, he must have been one of the many reformado colonels who attended the king after their units had been destroyed. Several Scottish and English officers from Marquis Hamilton's 'British' army served in this fashion.

Sources: J. Grant, The Scottish Soldiers of Fortune, Their Adventures and Achievements in the Armies of Europe (London, 1890), pp.222-223; J. Grant, Memoirs and Adventures of Sir John Hepburn (Edinburgh, 1851), p.256. We thank the Masonic Temple of Aberdeen for allowing us to view and photograph the Somerville Sword and the inscription on it. A copy of one of these images is produced in the collection S. Murdoch, ed, Scotland and the Thirty Years War, 1618-1648 (Brill, Leiden, 2001).

Service record

SWEDEN, GUSTAV II ADOLF

Arrived 1630-01-01, as COLONEL

Departed 1632-12-31, as COLONEL

Capacity AIDE DE CAMP, OFFICER, purpose MILITARY