BOSANQUET family.

This family is of Huguenot origin; its founder came to England from Lunel, near Montpellier, in 1685. Success in business led to its establishment at Forest House, on the outskirts of Epping Forest. Its connection with the Welsh border dates from the purchase by SAMUEL BOSANQUET (1744 - 1806), governor of the Bank of England, in 1801 of Dingestow Court, near Monmouth.

His son, SAMUEL (1768 - 1843), made the court his chief seat and was sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1814. The grandson SAMUEL RICHARD BOSANQUET (1800 - 1882) gave a long life to the service of the county, in which he became chairman of quarter sessions. Meanwhile, the link with Wales was drawn closer by the acquisition of valuable Welsh manuscripts, among them an early Welsh version of Geoffrey of Monmouth, which was edited by Professor Henry Lewis in 1942 under the title Brut Dingestow. The collection had been originally formed by Sir JOHN BERNARD BOSANQUET (1773 - 1847), judge and man of letters, but passed to his nephew; it was acquired in 1916 by the N.L.W.

One of the sons of S. R. Bosanquet (1800 - 1882) was Sir FREDERICK ALBERT BOSANQUET (1837 - 1923), judge of the Central Criminal Court from 1917. A member of the Northumbrian branch of the family, which is seated at Rock, near Alnwick, viz. ROBERT CARR BOSANQUET (1871 - 1925), was a distinguished archaeologist and in that capacity was appointed in 1908 a member of the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales; he served upon this body until his death and contributed many notices of Roman sites to the inventories which it issued.

Author

• Sir John Edward Lloyd, (1861 - 1947)

Sources

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 1922-30
• NLW Archives: NLW MS 5261-75: Dingestow Court manuscripts
• Bradney, A History of Monmouthshire, ii, 50-70

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20732668

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/