He won a by-election in 1890,[1] but he lost his seat to William Birkmyre, the Liberal candidate, in the 1892 general election.

[1] He had earlier contested the 1885 general election for the Conservatives, but lost to the Scottish Liberal Party candidate Archibald Corbett.

[2][7] Somervell studied at Harrow School and University of Oxford and was called to the bar in 1870.

[9] The Glasgow International Exhibition (1901) included a working model dairy farm run by Somervell.

[3][11] In 1904 Somervell stood trial in the High Court in Edinburgh on a charge of assaulting and firing a gun at the accountant Francis More who administered the Sorn Castle estate.