Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 20 - Bosanquet

by David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

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Bosanquet.—This ancient and steadfast Huguenot family has taken very deep root in English soil. Pierre Bosanquet was the father of Fulcrand (or Foulcrand) Bosanquet who flourished in 1583, and whose son and grandson bore the name of Pierre. The latter married Gallarde de Barbut. His son David left written a memorandum concerning his flight from France, of which the following is a translation:— “I, a son of the Sieur Pierre Bosanquet by Gallarde de Barbut, was born at Lunel, Monday, 31st October 1661; presented for holy baptism by M. David Barbut, my uncle, and by Marguerite de Barbut, my aunt, in the stead and place of Marguerite Bosanquet, my eldest sister, baptized on 6th November 1661, by M. Thomas, one of the pasteurs of that church. On Saturday, 29th September 1685 (n.s.), in order to escape the persecution, I departed from Lyons, where I was living, and I arrived at Geneva the 29th September (o.s.), whence I departed the 18th November following, taking Germany and Holland in my way. I arrived on Sunday, the 21st February following, at London, where I was married in the Parish Church of St. Stephen’s, Coleman Street, by the parish minister, the blind Dr. Richard Lucas, on Thursday, 15th September 1698, to Elizabeth (born 25th September 1676), daughter of the late Claude Hays and of Eleanor Hays (Cognard).” In the same church the venerated couple was buried, with this epitaph:—

“M.S. Davidis Bosanquet Luneliæ in Galliâ Narbonensi prid. kal. Nov. a.d. 1661 nati, qui post Edicti Namnetici abrogationem ex patriâ ergo profugiens in Angliam se recepit, atque huic civitati adscriptus in omnes fermè orbis terrarum partes mercaturam feliciter fecit, in matrimoniam duxit Elizabetham, Claudii Hayes civis Londinensis filiam, pulchris quæ fœminam ornant, virtutibus amabilem, ex quâ sex filios et tres filias unà cum charissimâ conjuge superstites sibi relinquens decessit prid. kal. Jul. a.d. 1732,—cujus desiderium moestissima conjux haud amplius ferens heu nimium cito subsecuta est prid. kal. Oct. a.d. 1737 ætatis suæ 62. David Bosanquet, filius natu maximus utriusque memoriæ hoc monumentum tristis posuit.”

David, the writer of this epitaph (born 1699, died 1741), married Dorcas Melchior, a sister of Mrs Fonnereau; he was a learned antiquary, traveller, and collector of historic coins, medals, &c. His line failed in 1809, on the death of his son Richard (unmarried). The refugee’s family was continued by his second and eighth sons. The fourth son, Claude’s, epitaph is beside that of his parents:— “To the memory of Claude Bosanquet, late of this parish, Esquire, who died 26th July 1786, aged 79; his life was the evidence of his faith in the Christian religion, his death the proof of its reward. Pious and benevolent, he constantly exemplified his love to his fellow-creatures, his respect and reverence to his Maker. Ripe, both in years and virtue, he beheld his approaching end without fear, and retired at once with resignation and with confidence.” [It must be remembered that the deceased gentleman never endorsed either the phraseology or the doctrines of the above epitaph.]

The founder of the chief line of the Bosanquets was the refugee’s second son, Samuel Bosanquet, of Forest House, Leyton, Essex, who was born in 1700, and married in 1732 Mary, the heiress of William Dunster, Esq. His eldest son was Samuel Bosanquet, of Forest House, who was a Director of the Bank of England, and Deputy-Governor of the Levant Company; in all political and social questions he was deeply read, extensively experienced, and frequently consulted. His practical loyalty was conspicuous at the period of the French Revolution; he died 4th July 1806, in his sixty-third year. Another son, William, was unmarried; the daughters were Anna Maria (Mrs. Gaussen), and Mary (Mrs. Fletcher). The second Samuel had three noteworthy sons, namely, the third Samuel Bosanquet, Esq. of Forest House and Dingestow House (born 1768, died 1843), Colonel Charles Bosanquet, of Rock (born 1769, died 1850), and Right Hon. Sir John Bernard Bosanquet (born 1773, died 1847). The next head of the family succeeded as the heir of the eldest of these; he was Samuel Richard Bosanquet, Esq. of Dingestow Court, barrister-at-law, Chairman of the Quarter Sessions of Monmouthshire, and Deputy-Lieutenant; he died on 27th December 1882, aged eighty-three. His next brother was James Whatman Bosanquet, Esq., who married Merelina, only daughter of the Lord Chief-Justice, Sir Nicolas Conyngham Tindal, and whose descendants are the Tindal-Bosanquets; he died on 22d December 1877, in his seventy-fourth year. Samuel Courthope Bosanquet, M.A., Oxon (born in 1832), is the present head of the refugee family, and Squire of Dingestow. He proved his father’s Will on 26th February 1S83, along with his brothers Rev. Claude Bosanquet, and Frederick Albert Bosanquet, M.A., barrister-at-law (personal estate over £49,000).

We now return to the eighth son of the refugee, namely, Jacob Bosanquet, Esq. (born 1713, died 1767); his monument is in Abbey Church, Bath, under the good Samaritan. His eldest son was Jacob Bosanquet, of Broxbournebury, in Hertfordshire, who for forty-five years was an East India Director, and was repeatedly elected Chairman of the East India Company. His eldest son and representative was George Jacob Bosanquet, Esq. of Broxbournebury (a celebrated mansion, and remarkable for a unique rose-garden). This Mr. Bosanquet was in the diplomatic service from 1815 to 1830; after two years’ residence at Berlin, and four at Paris, as an Attache, he went to Madrid as paid Attache in 1822, and was promoted to the rank of Secretary of Legation in November 1828. For about three years and a half he acted as Charge-d’Affaires, first for Sir William A’Court, and latterly for Sir Frederick Lamb. He married Cecilia, daughter of William Franks, Esq., and widow of Samuel Robert Gaussen, Esq. Two other branches of the family spring from William and Henry, brothers of George Jacob Bosanquet, Esq. William, a banker, died in his father’s life on 21st June 1800, from a melancholy accident, recorded in the Gentleman’s Magazine for that year. In that obituary notice he is described as “a gentleman of the finest literary attainments; nature had done much for him, education more. He possessed a fine taste, improved by the richest classical stores, and as a gentleman and a scholar was much admired in the superior circles of life.” He had married, 6th December 1787, Charlotte Elizabeth, one of the co-heiresses of John Ives, Esq., of Norwich (she died 13th November 1805, aged thirty-eight). One of their sons was Augustus Henry Bosanquet, Esq. of Osidge, who married Louisa Priscilla, eldest daughter of David Bevan, Esq., of Belmont. He was an eminent civilian in India, in which country he also earned a military pension by a successful attack on the fort at Bareilly. His sister’s son, Adolphus de Kantzow, a cavalry officer, received the special thanks of the Governor-General for his services in the suppression of the Sepoy revolt. George Jacob Bosanquet, Esq., who died in 1866, left an only daughter. Cecilia Jane Wentworth Bosanquet, his heiress, who married in 1858; her husband has assumed the surname of Bosanquet by Royal letters patent; he is Horace James Smith Bosanquet, Esq. of Broxbournebury.