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BOUVERIE, Sir Jacob, 3rd Bt. (?1694-1761), of Longford Castle, Wilts.
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. ?1694, 2nd s. of Sir William des Bouverie, 1st Bt., and yr. bro. of Sir Edward des Bouverie, 2nd Bt.. educ. M. Temple 1709; Ch. Ch. Oxf. 20 Oct. 1711, aged 17. m. (1) 31 Jan. 1724, Mary (d. 16 Nov. 1739), da. and h. of Bartholomew Clarke, of Delapré Abbey, Northants., 2s. 4da.; (2) 21 Apr. 1741, Elizabeth, da. of Robert Marsham, 1st Baron Romney, 2s. suc. to Kent estates of uncle Jacob des Bouverie 1722 and bro. as 3rd Bt. 21 Nov. 1736; took name of Bouverie in lieu of des Bouverie by Act of Parliament 1737; cr. Visct. Folkestone and Baron Longford 29 June 1747.
Offices Held
Recorder, Salisbury 1743-d.; 1st pres. of the Soc. of Arts 1755-d.
Biography
Sir Jacob Bouverie, a Turkey merchant, inherited £18,000 from his father in 1717,1 and estates near Folkestone from his uncle in 1722. In 1737 he gave the Georgia Society £1,000 from charitable bequests left by his father and brother, for which he was made a trustee of the Society in March 1737 and a common councillor a year later.2 Returned as a Tory for Salisbury in 1741, he voted against the Government in all recorded divisions, in spite of which he was made a peer at the dissolution in 1747. According to Horace Walpole, who calls him ‘a considerable Jacobite’, he bought his peerage from the King’s mistress, Lady Yarmouth, for £12,000.3 Establishing a personal interest in one seat at Salisbury, which was held by members of his family for nearly 100 years, he died 17 Feb. 1761.