Researching John Somerville

Joining the club in 1890 from Ayr, he went on to make 293 appearances for the club, playing on the losing side in the 1894 FA Cup Final. When Frank Brettell left the club in 1898, Somerville was made secretary-player, on retirement becoming secretary-manager (leading the team to the 1904 FA Cup Final, again resulting in defeat) and eventually becoming the club's first full-time manager in 1908. Under Somerville, the club were promoted to the First Division on three separate occasions and relegated four times. During the season that Bolton were relegated the fourth time (1909–10), Somerville stepped down, being replaced by Will Settle. He remained as secretary for the rest of the season before leaving the club. He later became a Football League linesman.

Somerville publicly exclaimed his desire and intention to assassinate Elizabeth I of England. However, it is likely that he was of unsound mind, and had neither the inclination nor capacity to carry out his threat. Nevertheless, the deeply suspicious Elizabethan security services took him seriously; perhaps as a precaution or to make an example, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and tortured. He was alleged to have hanged himself in jail before he could be executed.

Somerville's outburst had dire consequences for his kin. His father-in-law, Edward Arden was also arrested, tortured, tried and found guilty of treason by Christopher Wray. He was executed at Smithfield on 20 December 1583. His wife and daughter were also imprisoned in the Tower but later spared.

While it is possible that the Somerville and Arden case was dealt with maliciously by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, Warwickshire was a stronghold of Catholic recusancy. Moreover, a number of well established, and inter-linked, families of the county, such as the Throckmortons, Catesbys and Treshams were all variously implicated in real conspiracies – including the Gunpowder Plot.

He has had numerous one-man shows in the UK, Europe and the United States. He exhibits regularly at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. His work appears regularly at Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses in London and New York. Commissions include rock stars in bronze for the Hard Rock Cafes in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Reykjavík; public monuments and commemorative busts.

In 2016 John completed a statue of Spike Milligan sitting on a bench for Avenue House Estate Trust at Stephens House and Gardens in Finchley, which is the product of over ten years of work and fundraising by the Finchley Society.