George Boscawen, 9th Viscount Falmouth

George Hugh Boscawen, 9th Viscount Falmouth, DL (born 31 October 1919) is a Cornish peer and landowner. His subsidiary titles include Baron Le Despencer (created 1264) and Baron Boscawen-Rose. A former officer in the Coldstream Guards, he was Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall from 1977 to 1994.

He also has a claim to the Barony of Burghersh, abeyant since 1449.

Life

Boscawen was the second son of Evelyn Hugh John Boscawen, 8th Viscount Falmouth, by his marriage to Mary Margaret Desiree Meynell. Like his younger brother Robert, he was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and from 1939 to 1946 served in the Coldstream Guards, rising to the rank of Captain. During the Second World War he saw active service in Italy.^[1] On 21 May 1940 Boscawen's elder brother, Hon Evelyn Frederick Vere Boscawen, also a Coldstream Guards officer, was killed in action, leaving him as heir to the family titles and estates.^[2]

In 1962, he succeeded as Viscount Falmouth on the death of his father. In 1968 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall, then in 1977 became the county's Lord Lieutenant, retiring only in 1994 on reaching the age of seventy-five.^[1]

In 1982, as chairman of the governing body of Truro Cathedral School, Falmouth took the decision to close the school, because of "deteriorating finances". In a letter to parents he stated that this decision had been taken "with very great reluctance, after exploring all possible alternatives".^[3]

Family

In 1953 Boscawen married Elizabeth Price Browne and they had four sons. His wife, who was a Deputy Lieutenant for Cornwall and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, died in 2007. The heir to the titles is their eldest son, Evelyn Arthur Hugh Boscawen (born 1955).^[1]

His heir is his oldest son, the Hon Evelyn George Boscawen. All three generations, grandfather, father and son, are Etonians and live on and manage the estate. ^[4]

Ancestry

Ancestors of George Boscawen, 9th Viscount Falmouth

16. Hon. John Boscawen               8. Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth                       17. Catherine Annesley               4. Evelyn Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth                             18. Hon. Thomas Stapleton               9. Mary Stapleton, 17th Baroness le Despencer                       19. Maria Banks               2. Evelyn Boscawen, 8th Viscount Falmouth                                   20. Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn               10. George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn                       21. Juliana Pennant               5. Hon. Kathleen Douglas-Pennant                             22. Sir Charles Rushout, 2nd Baronet               11. Pamela Rushout                       23. Hon. Cecilia Foley               1. George Boscawen, 9th Viscount Falmouth                                         24. Sir Francis Wood, 2nd Baronet               12. Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax                       25. Anne Buck               6. Hon. Frederick Meynell Wood                             26. Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey               13. Lady Mary Grey                       27. Hon. Mary Ponsonby               3. Mary Meynell                                   28. James Lindsay, 24th Earl of Crawford               14. Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford                       29. Hon. Maria Pennington               7. Lady Mary Lindsay                             30. James Lindsay               15. Margaret Lindsay                       31. Anne Trotter

Notes

1. 'Falmouth, 9th Viscount (born 31 Oct. 1919), Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, 1977–94' in Who's Who 2003 (London: A. & C. Black, 2003), p. 692
2. Charles Mosley, ed., Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1 (2003), p. 1387
3. The Times, issue 61211 dated Monday, Apr 19, 1982, p. 10
4. Guardian "The Young Rich" 11 April, 1999 http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/1999/apr/11/theyoungrich4

External links

• George Boscawen, 9th Viscount Falmouth