Arthur Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers KCMG, DSO, MC, DL (20 March 1887 – 14 July 1944), son of Herbert Haldane Somers-Cocks by Blanche Margaret Standish Clogstoun. He was an Army officer in the First World War, a British administrator and served as the 16th Governor of the State of Victoria, Australia from 1926 to 1931.

Life

In 1906 he joined the 1st Regiment of Life Guards of the British Army, later taking leave to farm in Canada before rejoining his regiment in 1914 at the start of World War I. He commanded the 6th Battalion of the new Tank Corps in 1918. He was twice wounded, mentioned in dispatches, awarded the Military Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, and appointed to the Légion d'honneur.

A Freemason, he was initiated in the House Brigade Lodge 18 years before he arrived in Victoria, he served as the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria between 1927–1932.

He was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Boy Scouts in 1932, was deputy Chief Scout from 1935 to 1941, and was designated by Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout Movement, who had been Chief Scout of the World, as his successor as Chief Scout. He was appointed as Chief Scout of the British Empire in March 1941, on the death of Baden-Powell. He served until his death in 1944. He was succeeded by Lord Rowallan.

Lord Somers married Daisy Finola Meeking in 1921 and had issue, an only daughter:

• Hon. (Violet) Elizabeth Verena Somers-Cocks (1922–1986), who married Major Benjamin Alexander Frederick Hervey-Bathurst (1920–1997), 2nd son of Sir Frederick Edward William Hervey-Bathurst, 5th Bt.

In 1929, at his own expense, he brought together teenage boys from different backgrounds in Australia to what was named Lord Somers Camp which continues to this day. Somers revisited Australia and his camp in 1933, and again in 1937 when, as president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, he accompanied the English touring team.

Cricket

Lord Somers was also an able cricketer, and played 17 first-class games. In 1904, whilst a schoolboy at Charterhouse, he made 115 against Westminster, and two years later he made his first-class debut for MCC against Worcestershire, scoring 0 and 13. He rarely had enough time to play cricket, but in the 1920s he made a further 16 first-class appearances for Worcestershire, his highest score being 52 against Essex in May 1925. Lord Somers became both a vice-president of Worcestershire CCC and, in 1936, President of MCC.

He should not be confused with the Arthur Somers-Cocks who played ten games for Barbados around the turn of the twentieth century.

Freemasonry

He was a freemason. During his term as Governor of Victoria (1926–1931), he was also Grand Master of Victoria's Grand Lodge.