Aristocracy, Temperance and Social Reform: The Life of Lady Henry Somerset

Lady Isabella (Isabel) Caroline Somerset embodied social reform in the nineteenth century. The failure of her traumatic marriage to Lord Henry Charles Somerset after revelation of his homosexual affairs and ensuing child-custody battle provide background to her metamorphosis from an aristocratic socialite into a temperance activist, social reformer and women’s-rights campaigner, internationally recognized and feted for her contributions to society. In her first biography for over 80 years, Olwen Niessen brings to life Lady Somerset’s progression from a local temperance worker to leadership of the British Women’s Temperance Association (BWTA) and her transformation of this organization, from a reactionary, single-issue entity, into one committed to female emancipation and broader social reform. She provides a fascinating insight into Isabel Somerset’s participation in the women’s suffrage and lab our movements and Liberal politics and her impact upon Anglo-American and international reform movements, stemming from her close relationship with American temperance and woman’s rights icon, Frances Willard.