Arthur Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers. Photo: Bassano Ltd, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lord_Somers.jpg
School period
College/University
Career
Gallery of Lord Somers (Arthur Somers-Cocks)
scouting. Photo: Jörg Bürgis, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1996-Rover_Moot-Fahnengru%C3%9F.jpg)
Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers, was a British Army officer, colonial governor, and Scouting leader. He served as Governor of Victoria from 1926 to 1931, founded the Lord Somers Camp in Australia, and became Chief Scout of Great Britain and the British Commonwealth in 1941.
Background
Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-Cocks was born on March 20, 1887, at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, the son of Herbert Haldane Somers-Cocks, a former Coldstream Guards lieutenant, and Blanche Margaret Standish Clogstoun. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was his godfather. Somers and his sister were orphaned during childhood and were raised by paternal and maternal relatives who maintained connections with literary and artistic circles.
He succeeded his great-uncle as the sixth Baron Somers in 1899, at the age of twelve. The hereditary title gave him a seat in the British House of Lords and connected his later public career with the political and social institutions of the British aristocracy. He was also an accomplished sportsman, participating in cricket, polo, golf, and royal tennis.
Education
Somers attended Mulgrave Castle private school and Charterhouse, an English public school founded in London in the sixteenth century and relocated to Godalming in the nineteenth century. He was a strong school cricketer and made a century against Westminster while at Charterhouse.
He spent approximately a year at New College, Oxford, before joining the 1st Life Guards in 1906. New College, founded in the fourteenth century, was one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and provided a traditional university setting for members of the British upper classes entering public and military service.
Career
Somers joined the 1st Life Guards in 1906. Before the First World War he took leave from the regiment to farm in Canada, returning to military service in 1914. He served on the Western Front and was wounded twice at Ypres. In 1918 he commanded the 6th Battalion of the newly formed Tank Corps, reflecting the expanding use of armored warfare during the final year of the war. His service brought him the Military Cross, Distinguished Service Order, mention in dispatches, and appointment to the French Légion d'honneur.
He retired from the army as a lieutenant-colonel in 1922 after inheriting the Eastnor estates. From 1924 to 1926 he served as a lord-in-waiting and government spokesman in the House of Lords. In 1926 he became Governor of Victoria and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. His vice-regal term lasted from June 28, 1926, to June 23, 1931, and he administered Australia as acting governor-general from October 3, 1930, to January 22, 1931.
As Governor of Victoria, Somers promoted youth activities and helped establish the Lord Somers Camp and Power House in 1929. The camp brought together boys from public schools and working-class or industrial backgrounds for shared sports and communal life, with the stated aim of reducing class prejudice and encouraging mutual understanding. The permanent site at Somers opened in 1931, and the camp became a continuing youth organization and a place of historical significance in Victoria.
After returning to England, Somers became lord-lieutenant of Herefordshire in 1933 and maintained his interest in conservation, including efforts to protect the Malvern Hills. He served as Red Cross commissioner in Egypt in 1940 and 1941 until illness caused by cancer of the throat curtailed his work. He was president of the Marylebone Cricket Club during the 1930s and accompanied the English touring team to Australia in 1937.
Somers became chief commissioner of the Scouts in 1932 and served as deputy chief scout from 1935 to 1941. Designated by Robert Baden-Powell as his successor, he became Chief Scout of Great Britain in 1941 and subsequently Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth. He held the position until his death at Eastnor Castle on July 14, 1944.
Somers established the Lord Somers Camp and Power House in Victoria in 1929, bringing together boys from public schools and industrial or working-class backgrounds. The initiative developed into a continuing youth organization centered on shared outdoor activities, sports, and social understanding.
He commanded the 6th Battalion of the New Tank Corps in 1918 after serving on the Western Front and being wounded twice at Ypres.
He served as Chief Scout of Great Britain and subsequently of the British Commonwealth from 1941 until his death in 1944, following Robert Baden-Powell's designation of him as successor.
As Governor of Victoria, he administered the Commonwealth of Australia as acting governor-general from October 1930 to January 1931.
Religion
Somers was a devout Anglican. Anglicanism is the tradition associated with the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, whose historical development combined elements of the English Reformation with episcopal governance, established liturgy, and continuity with older Christian practice.
His public life included military service, colonial administration, Scouting, and charitable work in settings where Anglican institutions remained prominent in British and imperial society. His funeral arrangements after his death at Eastnor Castle included cremation.
Politics
Somers was associated with the Conservative Party and represented the party's aristocratic and constitutional tradition in the House of Lords. His political career was not based on elected constituency office; from 1924 to 1926 he served as a lord-in-waiting and government spokesman in the upper house.
The Conservative Party during the interwar period supported parliamentary government, the constitutional monarchy, the British Empire, and social stability while containing both traditional aristocratic and modernizing currents. Somers's later appointment as Governor of Victoria placed him in a vice-regal rather than partisan office, where he worked with Australian ministers and administered the Commonwealth as acting governor-general from October 1930 to January 1931.
Views
Somers's public work reflected a belief that shared activity could reduce social prejudice and strengthen mutual respect. The Lord Somers Camp was designed around the idea that boys from different educational and economic backgrounds should live, play, and compete together, carrying the resulting understanding into adult life.
His involvement in Scouting and conservation likewise connected leadership with service, outdoor activity, and responsibility toward the wider community. These documented initiatives suggest a practical philosophy of social cohesion rather than a formal theoretical system.
Membership
Somers held senior positions in Scouting, Freemasonry, and organized cricket. His Masonic leadership included service as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria, while his involvement with the Marylebone Cricket Club connected him with one of England's principal institutions for the administration and development of cricket.
His Scouting work belonged to an international youth movement founded by Robert Baden-Powell in the early twentieth century. Somers helped carry its leadership from the interwar period into the Second World War, when Scouting organizations also emphasized public service, discipline, outdoor education, and civic responsibility.
Served as Grand Master.
United Grand Lodge of Victoria
,
Australia
1927 - 1932
Served as president.
Marylebone Cricket Club
,
United Kingdom
1936 - 1937
Personality
Contemporary biographical accounts described Somers as physically imposing, with a height of about six feet, brown hair, and a clipped moustache. He was also characterized as charming, cheerful, warm, generous, interested in people, and strongly conscious of duty and leadership.
Physical Characteristics:
He was approximately six feet tall, with brown hair and a clipped moustache.
Interests
Scouting, Freemasonry, conservation, flora and fauna, and youth development.
Sport & Clubs
Cricket, polo, golf, and royal tennis.
Connections
Somers married Daisy Finola Meeking at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London, on April 20, 1921. They had one daughter, Violet Elizabeth Verena Somers-Cocks, who later married Major Benjamin Alexander Frederick Hervey-Bathurst.
Somers maintained a significant professional connection with Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout Movement, who designated him as his successor as Chief Scout. His Australian work also created a lasting institutional connection with Lord Somers Camp and Power House, which continued to preserve his name and the camp's original aim of bringing together young people from different social backgrounds.
Wife:
Daisy Finola Meeking
Married Somers on April 20, 1921, at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London.
Daughter:
Violet Elizabeth Verena Somers-Cocks
Their only daughter; she later married Major Benjamin Alexander Frederick Hervey-Bathurst.
colleague:
Robert Baden-Powell
Founder of the Scout Movement who designated Somers as his successor as Chief Scout.
Victorian Heritage Register, Lord Somers Camp
Heritage report documenting the origin, purpose, design, and continuing historical significance of the Lord Somers Camp established in Victoria in 1929.
