Sir William Bowyer, 1st Baronet

Sir William Bowyer, 1st Baronet (29 June 1612 – 2 October 1679) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1659 and 1679.

Bowyer was the eldest son of Sir Henry Bowyer and his wife Anne Salter, daughter of Sir Nicholas Salter,^[1] and was baptised at St Olave Hart Street in London.^[2] He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge.^[3] In 1630, he was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn. Bowyer was High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire between 1646 and 1647 and a Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckinghamshire from 1659 until 1679^[4] Having been a Royalist before the Restoration, he was knighted by June 1660^[4] and afterwards made a Baronet, of Denham, in the County of Buckingham by King Charles II of England on 25 June 1660.^[5]

On 29 May 1634, he married Margaret Weld, daughter of Sir John Weld at St Olave Old Jewry in London. They had three sons and several daughters.^[6] Bowyer died intestate, aged 67 and was buried at Denham.^[6] He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his oldest son William.^[6]

Bowyer was a friend and often host of John Dryden and assisted in the translation of Virgil.^[2]

References

1. Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 134.
2. "The Peerage - Sir William Bowyer, 1st Bt". Retrieved 28 January 2009.
3. "Bowyer, William (BWR628W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. History of Parliament Online - Bowyer, William
5. Debrett, John (1824). Debrett's Baronetage of England. vol. I (fifth ed.). London: G. Woodfall. pp. 221–222.
6. Kimber, Edward (1771). Richard Johnson, ed. The Baronetage of England: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets. vol. II. London: Thomas Wotton. p. 41.