John Somers, Baron Somers
(1651-1716), Lord ChancellorLater Stuart Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter associated with 38 portraits
Somers was called to the Bar in 1676, and he combined his work as a barrister with involvement with Whig politics. He was at the centre of the Whig party in the twenty-five years following the revolution of 1688. Entering Parliament as an MP in 1689, Somers was made first Solicitor General and then Attorney General; he became William III's most confidential adviser. He served in a number of other senior government offices including Lord Keeper, Lord Chancellor and Lord President to the Council. Somers' legal abilities, constitutional achievements and his belief in religious toleration was extravagantly praised by Whig historians throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
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