John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath

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Canting arms of Bourchier: Argent, a cross engrailed gules between four water bougets sable

John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath PC (1499 in Devon – 10 February 1560/61) was an Earl in the peerage of England. He also succeeded to the titles of 12th Baron FitzWarin, Baron Daubeney and 4th Count of Eu.

Origins

He was the son of John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath and Cecily Daubeney. He was the first cousin of Anne Stanhope, daughter of the 1st Earl of Bath's sister, Elizabeth Bourchier. Upon her marriage to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, she became the sister-in-law to Queen Jane Seymour and therefore the Aunt of King Edward VI. After the death of Henry VIII, his widow, Catherine Parr, married Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley. This made Anne the sister-in-law to two English queens.

Career

In 1519 he was appointed Sheriff of Somerset and Sheriff of Dorset and was knighted in 1523. On the death of King Edward VI (1547–1553), he was one of the first to declare Queen Mary his rightful heir. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor in 1533, and served as a Commissioner at the coronation of Queen Mary. Bourchier was also a commissioner at the trial of Lady Jane Grey.[1]

Other offices held by him included: Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Lord-Lieutenant of Devon, Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset and Governor of Beaumaris Castle.[2]

Landholdings

In 1539 he was granted by King Henry VIII the manors of Hackpen, Sheldon, Bolham and Saint Hill, having already inherited the feudal barony of Okehampton from his grandmother, Elizabeth Dynham.

Marriages

Arms of Bourchier impaling Manners, sculpted above door to south chancel aisle, built by the 2nd Earl, Tawstock Church. Representing arms of John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath (1499 – 1560/61) (with 10 quarterings) impaling Manners (with 4 quarterings), for his second wife Eleanor Manners, daughter of George Manners, 11th Baron de Ros (c. 1470 – 1513)
Pair of escutcheons à bouche above SE door of Tawstock Church, Devon: left: showing a falcon atop a Bourchier knot, Representing John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath (1499 – 1560/61); right: showing a peacock in its pride, the crest of Manners, the family of his 2nd wife Eleanor Manners, daughter of George Manners, 11th Baron de Ros
Arms of Donnington: Argent, three pallets azure on a chief gules three bezants[3]

John Bourchier married three times:[4]

Children and succession

His eldest son by his second marriage John Bourchier, Lord FitzWarin predeceased his father, having married (on 11 December 1548 at Hengrave[19]) his step-sister Frances Kitson, daughter of Sir Thomas Kitson of Hengrave Hall by Margaret Donnington.[20] Their son William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath (1557–1623), therefore succeeded his grandfather in the earldom, aged under 1 year old. The title became extinct in 1654 on the death of the 5th Earl.

Death and burial

He died on 10 February 1560/61 and was buried on 10 March at Hengrave, Suffolk.

References

  1. ^ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden (Eds.), The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new edn., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 16.
  2. ^ Sir Bernard Burke (Ed.), Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland, 3rd edn. (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1912), p. 560.
  3. ^ Rokewood, John Gage, History and Antiquities of Suffolk: Thingoe Hundred, 1838, pp. 218–9 [1]
  4. ^ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.107, pedigree of Bourchier
  5. ^ http://www.thepeerage.com/p11719.htm#i117184; Vivian, p.107, Robert incorrectly identified as Comes Hungerford ("Earl Hungerford")
  6. ^ Vivian, p.107; listed as Elizabetha, "named in her mother-in-law's will, living in 1561" (i.e. her stepmother Margaret Donnington)
  7. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.790
  8. ^ Peter W. Hammond (Ed.), The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 71
  9. ^ Vivian, p.107 "Dodington"
  10. ^ Rowe, Joy, biog of Kitson family (per. c.1520–c.1660), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/73910]
  11. ^ 'Stoke Newington: Other estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 178–184. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  12. ^ Welch, Charles, biog. of Kitson, Sir Thomas (1485–1540), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography[2]
  13. ^ Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, pp. 152–3
  14. ^ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.107, Bourchier
  15. ^ Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, p.152
  16. ^ Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, p.152; thepeerage.com
  17. ^ Misidentified in Rokewood, p.219 as "Gules, two bendlets wavy or for Brewer. In this 7th position are shown elsewhere the arms of Stapledon (of Annery, Monkleigh): Argent, two bars wavy sable, e.g. on monument of Lady Frances Bourchier (died 1612) in the Earl of Bedford's Chenies Chapel, Bucks. (www.middlesex-heraldry.org.uk) & sculpted on the gatehouse of Tawstock Court, Devon). Rokewood's footnotes confirm that argent and sable could be the correct tinctures in the poorly preserved glass.
  18. ^ Rokewood, John Gage, History and Antiquities of Suffolk: Thingoe Hundred, 1838, pp. 218–9 [3]
  19. ^ Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, pp. 152–3
  20. ^ Vivian, (ed.), Heralds' Visitation of Devon, 1895, p.107
Political offices
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Devon
1556–1561
Vacant
Title next held by
The 2nd Earl of Bedford
Lord Lieutenant of Dorset
1556–1558
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Bath
1539–1561
Succeeded by