William des Bouverie

Sir William des Bouverie, 1st Baronet (26 September 1656 – 19 May 1717), was a merchant in London and a baronet in the Baronetage of Great Britain.

He was the eldest of the seven sons of London Turkey merchant Sir Edward des Bouverie (died 2 April 1694, aged 72) of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. His mother, Anne, was the daughter and co-heir of London merchant Jacob de la Forterie. He followed his father and grandfather into trade, and amassed a large fortune.^[1]

He was created a baronet, of St Catherine Cree Church, London, on 19 February 1714.^[1]

He married twice: firstly (with a vicar general's licence dated 12 September 1682) to Mary Edwards (born c. 1662), daughter of James Edwards of St Stephen Coleman Street. She died without surviving issue, and Des Bouverie married secondly, on 29 April 1686 at Hackney, Anne Urry. Anne was the daughter of David Urry, of London, the son of John Urry, of Mill Place, on the Isle of Wight.^[1]

He died on 19 May 1717, aged 60, and was buried at St Catherine Cree. His widow died aged 75 at Chelsea, London, on 5 June 1739 and was buried in the same church.^[1]

Descendance and Relatives

In the Dutch television show Verborgen Verleden (Dutch edition of Who Do You Think You Are?), Jan des Bouvrie researches his paternal family line and he finds that his male line go back to the line of the De le Bouvrie family, descending from a family living on a small farm in Sainghin-en-Mélantois, where Jehan de le Bouvrie (né abt. 1480) his widow, Jeanne de la Motte, inherited a farm with four cows and two horses in 1543.^[2] A grandson of Jehan, merchant Lawrence de Bouverie, born in Saingin en Mélantois, moved from Flanders to Great Britain. He is the forefather of William de Bouverie, who bought Longford Castle in 1717.

References

1. Cokayne, George Edward (1906) Complete Baronetage. Volume V. Exeter: W. Pollard & Co. LCCN 06-23564. p. 18
2. Verborgen Verleden, season 5, episode 6 (Jan des Bouvrie)