Family and Education

b. 1 Dec. 1712, 4th s. of Hugh, 1st Visct. Falmouth, and bro. of Hon. Edward and Hon. John Boscawen. educ. poss. Eton 1725-8. m. 3 Feb. 1743, Ann, da. of John Morley Trevor of Glynde, Suss., sis. and coh. of John Trevor of Trevalyn, Denb., 2s. 2da.

Offices Held

Ensign 1 Ft. Gds. 1729, lt. and capt. 1738, capt. and lt.-col. 1743, col. 1749; lt. gov. Scilly Isles 1750- d.; col. 29 Ft. 1752-61; maj.-gen. 1758; col. 23 Ft. 1761- d.; lt.-gen. 1760.

Biography

Boscawen throughout his parliamentary career supported each successive Administration: his name appears in almost all the majority lists, and his only known Opposition vote was for the repeal of the Cider Act, 10 Feb. 1764.1 His first and last recorded intervention in debate during his 31 years in the House was on 12 Feb. 1770:2

I hope my honourable friend [Sir John Molesworth] will not take it amiss, if I cannot sit still and hear the county of Cornwall called the rotten part of the constitution. I remember his saying at the last general election that no adventurer was admitted into any of the boroughs, but that every one of them was carried by family interest.

He died 3 May 1775.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes

• 1. Harris’s ‘Debates’.
• 2. Cavendish’s ‘Debates’, Egerton 220, ff. 60-61.