He became commander of the British troops sent to the Crimea in 1854: his primary objective was to defend Constantinople, and he was also ordered to besiege the Russian port of Sevastopol.

[2] Promoted to lieutenant on 1 June 1805,[3] Somerset accompanied Sir Arthur Paget on his visit to Sultan Selim III of the Ottoman Empire, who had been aligning himself too closely with France, in 1807.

[1] He specially distinguished himself at the storming of Badajoz in March 1812 by being the first to mount the breach and by helping to secure the surrender of the French Governor and was duly promoted to lieutenant colonel on 27 April 1812.

[1] Following Wellington's appointment as British Ambassador during the short period of Bourbon restoration, Somerset assumed a role as his secretary at the Embassy on 5 July 1814.

[21] While Raglan's primary objective was to defend Constantinople he was ordered by the Duke of Newcastle, who was at the time Secretary of State for War, to besiege the Russian port of Sevastopol "unless it could not be undertaken with a reasonable prospect of success".

While this eccentricity is often cited as evidence of his unsuitability for high command, he did in fact speak fluent French and relations between the two allies in the field were good.

[26] Raglan was blamed by the press and the government for the sufferings of the British soldiers in the terrible Crimean winter during the Siege of Sevastopol owing to shortages of food and clothing[27] although this, in part, was the fault of the home authorities who failed to provide adequate logistical support.

[30] Cefntilla Court, Llandenny was built as a lasting memorial to Somerset in 1858: an inscription over the porch there reads:[31] This house with 238 acres of land was purchased by 1623 of the friends, admirers and comrades in arms of the late Field Marshal Lord Raglan GCB and presented by them to his son and his heirs for ever in a lasting memorial of affectionate regard and respect.A blue plaque was erected outside Raglan's house at Stanhope Gate in London in 1911.

[34] Lord Raglan is a character in George MacDonald Fraser's novel Flashman at the Charge, in which he is described as a kindly, but ineffectual man, and completely unsuited for his command.