The sitter was the eldest son of Robert Somerville (d.1705) of Edstone and Elizabeth, his wife, eldest daughter of Sir Charles Wolseley, 2nd Bt. (d.1714) of Wolseley, Staffordshire. From 1705, the year of his father's death, he led the life of a country gentleman in Edstone, devoting much of his time to literature. His fame as a poet rests on The Chase, a poem of four books in blank verse, which appeared in 1735 and brought to life his favorite pastime.