Wellington College had been established by Queen Victoria for the education of her army's orphans in 1859 and Henry's years there provide the most joyous chapters of his autobiography.

On arrival he met William Bowman, manager of Mount Brisbane Station on part of which the township of Esk was built and accompanied him to New South Wales.

The first was a local bullock driver named Harry Winwood who rode to Esk with a telegram for Post Master General, Brisbane, but "not a soul was warned".

Convinced that Caboonbah's location was ideal for a flood warning station for the Brisbane and Stanley Rivers, Henry lobbied hard.

[11] In September 1904 Henry Somerset won the seat of Stanley in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from the incumbent William Summerville (525 to 410) and retained it until 1920.

In his first acceptance speech he described himself as a democrat, not a conservative and pledged himself to "use his influence to advance the construction of the railway line as far as Stanley Gates"[12] (now known as the township of Moore on D’Aguilar Highway, Somerset).

Its construction was one of two recommendations from a report by A. G. Gutteridge (1928) as Royal Commissioner exploring future water requirements for the City of Brisbane.

[15] The dam project was supported by the Forgan Smith Government in 1933 but interrupted in 1942 when workmen and machinery were diverted to other purposes during World War II.

[citation needed] Henry Somerset died on 11 April 1936, all of his siblings, his wife and eldest son having predeceased him.

He is buried in the cemetery of the Caboonbah Undenominational Church that he helped to establish and had served his community in local and State Government for thirty years.