SIR GEORGE SOMERS AND HIS FAMILY. 27 



this John through a considerable number of documents 

 relating to Lyme fails to produce a trace of him. He is, how- 

 ever, found at last, or at any rate one of his names, on a 

 muster roll of the trained band of Lyme Regis of the year 1539, 

 when John Somer (a spelling of the surname generally used 

 by George and his relatives previous to their more prosperous 

 days) was classed as an able archer. And it is further to be 

 noted that the archer had no arms, not even a bow, nor was 

 he considered capable of providing any weapon a circum- 

 stance that suggests some degree of poverty. Whether this 

 John Somer was Sir George's father or not, there is at least 

 something to be told about the mother. The will of Alice 

 Somer, of Lyme Regis, widow, dated 1590, and proved in the 

 Court of the Dean of Sarum in 1591, mentions as her sons or 

 grandsons many of the persons described by Sir George in his 

 own will as his brothers or nephews. It is plain that Alice was 

 not in good circumstances. She had shared with her sister, 

 a widow named Thomasine Lange, of Lyme, a small piece of 

 ground called '' The Cleeves," containing eight acres, and her 

 money legacies amount to no more than 8. Her eldest son, 

 Nicholas, was apparently dead, and the executors of the will are 

 " my sons John Somer and George Somer," George being thus 

 the youngest of the three brothers. For the purpose of 

 estimating the social position of the family, the most significant 

 statement in the will is one which refers to a chest " standing 

 in the shope," indicating that the testatrix belonged to the 

 class of small traders, though there is nothing to show the 

 nature of the trade. It may thus be concluded that Sir 

 George owed nothing to family connections, and that, like 

 many of our greatest naval commanders, he carved out his 

 fortune with his own hand. 



But, it might be objected, he may have married an heiress, 

 or a wife with wealthy relatives. This also must be answered 

 in the negative. George Somers (or Somer) married some time 

 before 1583 Joan, daughter of Phillip Hey wood, a yeoman of 

 Lyme Regis, who, by his will dated in 1604, left to " my son- 

 in-law, Sir George Summers, knight, and my daughter Joane, 



