The first of the surname of Somerville of which we have any record, is Sir Gualter (Walter) De Somerville, a Norman Knight, who, with other adventurous spirits, attached themselves to William the Conqueror, and landed with him in Britain in 1066.

Sir Gualter (1st Baron) was thus the ancestor and founder of the families of the two powerful territorial houses of Somerville who flourished in England for nearly 300 years, and in Scotland for 700 years.

We read that Somerville*1, near Evreaux, in Normandy*1 was the place from which the family drew its name, and which Sir Gualter left in order to follow the fortunes of William the Conqueror. This knight, for his services and share of the spoils on the conquest of England, was rewarded by William with a gift of the lands and barony of Whichenour and Burtone (Burton-on-Trent) in the County of Stafford. He was succeeded by his son.

GUALTER (2nd Baron) – 2nd of that name, of whom there is nothing mentioned in "The Memorie" except that he married Cicilly deLunsie, by whom he had a son, Rodger, who succeeded him.

RODGER (3rd Baron) – All that is known of this baron is that he married Edellie, daughter of Robert Buther of Inglishbie. By this lady he had a son named Rodger, who heired him, and others of whom there is no account given.

RODGER (4th Baron) – 2nd of that name. The author of "The Memorie" says he can find nothing written, but that he was the father of a third Rodger who succeeded him.

RODGER (5th Baron) – 3rd of that name. This Baron had two sons. Rodger the elder was educated in France for the Church, and was afterward preferred to the Bishopric of St. Andrews. John, the younger, while on a visit with his father to the North of England, met Malcolm IV, King of Scotland, who took a liking for him (at this time he was only a lad of fourteen).

In 1164, King Malcolm offered to take him into his service as a page of honour. This pleased Sir Rodger so much that he willingly left him in his Majesty’s care. King Malcolm died the following year, 1165, and was succeeded by his brother, William the Lion. This king also took a fancy for him, so he rapidly rose in favour at the Scottish Court, being soon after appointed Chief Falconer to his Majesty.

It was while thus employed that the incident occurred which laid the foundation of the House of Somerville in Scotland, and all the stirring events and festive scenes connected with the family for the next four centuries.
The incident referred to was his killing the worm or serpent (which will be given fuller detail, later). For his service, he had the lands and barony of Linton gifted to him, along with a knighthood, by the king in 1174.
In the 5th year of the reign of King John, Sir Rodger obtained from him a grant of the lands and Manor Eyrwasi (Zears) which adjoined Whichenour.

This baron joined in the Magna Chara rebellion of 1214-1215, against King John, in consequence of which he had his estates forfeited, and had to seek refuge in Scotland in the house of his son, Sir John, now baron of Linton in Roxburghshire, where after a few months’ residence, he died.

SIR JOHN SOMERVILLE of Linton (6th Baron) – Sir Rodger’s 2nd son succeeded, after the death of King John, through the mediation of King Alexander with King Henry III, in getting the estates in England restored and settled in his favour about the year 1221. These were afterwards, made over to his elder son Robert, who thus succeeded him as Lord of Whichenour, while he settled the succession of his Scottish estate upon his 2nd son, William.
In Sir John, the two families were united, and at his death, were again divided into two separate branches.*2

ROBERT (7th Baron) – Elder, son of Sir John and baron of Whichenour in 1229, married Isabella, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Sir Rodger de Merlie, a great baron in Northumberland, but did not live many years. He died in 1242, in the 25th year of Henry III’s reign.

RODGER (8th Baron) – Son of Robert, succeeded him. This Baron was a soldier, and under Henry dePercy, was engaged in expeditions against Scotland, in the taking of Berwick in 1296, afterwards advancing to Dunbar where the Scottish Army was defeated. We find that he, in the following year, petitioned Parliament for an allowance, for his services in these expeditions.
He was later appointed Sheriff of Yorkshire, and Governor of York Castle by Edward II. He left a son who succeeded him.

RODGER (9th Baron) – This baron was also a soldier, and took part in the wars with Scotland. We find he gave admission to the Church of Stainington to the monks of Newminster near Morpeth in Northumberland. There is little else on record about him except that he was summoned to attend Parliament in the 1st year of the reign of Edward III in 1327, and among others, was made a peer of England (Nobilitat).

Lord Rodger died about ten years after, leaving his honours, title and estates to his brother, Sir Philip de Somerville, Knight, and is interred at Burton-on-Trent.

SIR PHILIP, (now Lord Somerville), at the age of fifty, succeeded his brother in 1337, being the tenth year of the reign of King Edward III. This was now an influential and powerful Lord; besides, since succeeding to Whichenour, Burton and Zears, he had become possessed of the following Manors and lands: Susceet, Reidware, Netherton, Conlencal, Tunstall, Brideshall, Newbold and Tatunhall, all in Staffordshire (the three last in right of his wife Margaret) also the Manors of Burcon-Anness and Eber Stockton in Cumberland, and the Manors of Turnswall, Plesselyes, Shotton, Benton-Magna and half of Stainington, all in Northumberland. The Author of the "Memorie" acknowledges his great indebtedness, for all these particulars, to the Author of "English Baronage", and praises his painstaking faithfulness in undertaking a work of such great difficulty. Before his brother’s death, Sir Philip (as he was then) was Sheriff of Buckingham and Bedford.
We read that he gave the Church of Betton, in the County of Northumberland, with certain lands in that parish, to Baliol College, Oxford, for the perpetual maintenance of six scholars to be elected out of the towns neighbouring thereto.
Lord Philip died in the 29th year of Edward III’s reign (in 1356) leaving no male issue. His great inheritance, therefore, was transmitted to the Staffords and Vernons, to whom his two daughters Jean and Maude were married. Both of these families were materially helped to their dignity and greatness by the addition of Lord Philip’s great estate.

From the first of these unions, the Staffords, came the Dukes of Buckingham, who suffered much in their persons, honours and fortunes in the bloody controversies between the houses of York and Lancaster. From the Vernons came Sir Richard Vernon, who was executed by Henry IV for his adherence to the cause of Richard II, King of England.

Thus with the death of Philip, 2nd Lord Somerville of Whichenour, ended the family name, as territorial Lords, in England, after flourishing for the long period of 290 years;--from the Norman Conquest.