Somerset, THOMAS, confessor, b. about 1530; d. in the Tower of London, May 27, 1587; second son of Henry, second Earl of Worcester. He was committed to the Fleet, June 10, 1562, “for translating an oration out of French, made by the Cardinal of Lorraine“, Charles de Guise, Archbishop of Reims, “and putting the same without authority in print”. On June 27, 1562, he was summoned before the Lords of the Council at Greenwich, who expected “a humble submission, for want whereof, and for that he seamed to go about to justify his cause, he was returned to the Fleet, there to remain until he” should have better considered of himself”. After an imprisonment of close on twenty years he was released on bail, February 28, 1581-82, to attend to legal business in Monmouthshire. On May 2, 1582, he was too ill to travel, and was permitted to remain at liberty till he should recover. By October 22, 1585, he was in the Tower on a charge of high treason. Being possessed of properties in Gloucestershire and Monmouth-shire, he paid the costs of his imprisonment, and his name therefore is not to be found in the Tower Bills.
JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT