Somerville was a railway engineer serving in Peterborough, Port Lincoln, and Darwin between 1911 and 1933. He died in Adelaide in 1960. Married to Edith Tapley (1869-1971), he is remembered for his historical researches in SA, his distinguished contributions to the Australian Encyclopedia and the archives on SA exploration.

Papers are held in various State Libraries including: NLA, VIC, SA, NSW, and the RGSSA library etc.