Worcester: Behind the Name
by Louise Ash


To the question, " For whom was Worcester County named? " the correct response is supposed to be the "Earl of Worcester." But who was the Earl of Worcester? Why did Lord Baltimore honor him by naming a county in the new colony of Maryland for him and his family?
Most Maryland histories do not elaborate in any detail about the Earl of Worcester. Douglas P.McElrath, an archivist with the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis, was most helpful and provided a genealogical context in which to speculate about the Worcester name. McElrath also pointed out that while Worcester as we know it today was formed in 1742, earlier attempts were made to create counties with the name of Worcester in the 17th century. The lands where those attempts took place are located in what is now Delaware and the efforts to create lasting entities called "Worcester" did not meet with success. McElrath therefore believes it " reasonable to conclude" that the Earl of Worcester for whom the county is named is a 17th-century person, and continues:
"There are three likely candidates for an Earl of Worcester who was sufficiently close to theCalvert family to be honored with a county name. They are Edward Somerset (1553-1628), 4th Earl of Worcester; his son, Henry Somerset (1577-1646), 5th Earl; and his grandson, Edward Somerset (1601-1667), the 6th Earl of Worcester.
"The first two gentlemen became related to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore through his marriage in 1627/28 to Anne Arundel, the daughter of Thomas Arundel, 1st Baron of Arundel of Wardour. Anne Arundel's stepbrother, Thomas (2d Baron), married Blanche Somerset, daughter of Edward, the 4th Earl. She went on to achieve considerable fame as the royalist defender of Wardour Castle during the English Civil War, an act of bravery that must have impressed her brother-in-law, Cecil Calvert.
"The connection between the Arundels and Somersets was further cemented by the marriage of Anne Arundel's sister, Mary Arundel to John Somerset, second son of Henry, 5th Earl of Worcester. Somerset County, Maryland is named for this Mary Somerset.
"Cecil Calvert had, therefore, two brothers-in-law who were either the son or were married to a daughter of Earls of Worcester. The 6th Earl of Worcester, Edward Somerset...was a contemporary of Cecil Calvert (1601 -1675) and through his position as a prominent Catholic and royalist official in Ireland during the Civil War may have been in a position to support Calvert's Maryland colony. It is not clear which of these three successive Earls of Worcester are the namesake of Worcester County. This probably explains why ... authoritative sources ... only say that the county is named after the ' Earl of Worcester.' It is quite possible that Cecil Calvert simply meant to honor the family whose association with him spanned three generations."
One of the Earls of Worcester the 6th who was also the 2d Marquis of Worcester, was a particularly interesting individual, who has been credited by at least one writer/historian of the 19th century as the inventor of the steam engine. Henry Dircks authored two books in the 1860s on the 6th Earl, Edward Somerset: The Life, Times and Scientific Labours of Edward Somerset and Worcesteriana, a genealogy and biography of "Lord Worcester's family." He also lectured on the famous Earl, delivering one to the Literary Institution at Greenwich on Feb. 16, 1864. Dircks was a devoted fan of Edward Somerset, but did recognize some of his shortcomings, which he addressed in his lecture:
"Alas! his military career forms no brilliant page in the annals of his country's history. He was essentially neither a statesman, nor a military man. He was bold, courageous, and energetic, but he could neither be fierce nor ferocious on occasion...His very goodness of heart, urbanity and uprightness were the sources of his utter ruin. Himself incapable of deceit, he was perpetually made the victim of it: those who appeared his assured friends and had every reason to be so, proving in any emergency shallow, empty, and worthless..."
Born around 1601, Edward Somerset lived at Raglan Castle in the county of Monmouth, Wales. During the civil war in England, Charles I three times rested at Raglan Castle, a stronghold of the Royalists. Edward Somerset, also known as Lord Herbert Ragland, spent £918,000 of his own and his family's fortune to oppose the Cromwellian army. Charles I repaid the Somersets with tides, i.e. Marquis of Worcester, Baron Beaufort of Caldecote and Earl of Glamorgan," promises and valueless bonds. The king induced the Earl to raise troops to fight for the Royalist cause, and after the fall of Raglan Castle, Somerset was forced to flee England for Paris in 1646.
He returned to London in 1652, most likely to see his son, Henry, who was a member of the Cromwellian Parliament Somerset was immediately incarcerated in the Tower of London, where he spent two years. In 1655, he was released from prison and Cromwell gave him the niggardly sum of £3 per week for his maintenance. In that same year, Somerset wrote Century of Inventions, an outline of a larger work he envisioned a compendium of all his inventions and how to make them work. It also seems as if he secured some type of royal appointment as an inventor and builder. On June 3,1663, Parliament granted a 99-year patent to the "Marquis of Worcester" for his "Watercommanding Engine" or steam engine.
According to Dircks, Somerset invented the steam engine, a model of which operated at Vauxhall from 1663 to 1667, and possibly as late as 1670. Somerset also envisioned a public company for obtaining funds "to extend its utility to the supply of towns and canals, and for draining mines and marsh lands." His other inventions included improved watches, "automata," or self-acting mechanical contrivances, 23 different ciphers codes, and signals, fortifications, embankments, ships rowing against wind and tide, great floating baths and gardens and large cannons. He even experimented with a colossal "perpetual motion" machine, which he exhibited to Charles I.
Unfortunately, Somerset did not live to see material fruits of his labor. Plague devastated London in 1665, fire in 1666, and amid all these calamities, he himself weakened and "aged, harassed, disappointed, and dismayed, he was prematurely called to his long rest on the 3rd of April, 1667."
While it is pure speculation to assume that this particular Earl of Worcester is county's namesake, certainly it is safe to assume that his accomplishments lent notoriety and perhaps even distinction to the Worcester name, no mean feat in any age.

Worcester County Home Page