Bourchier -> Bowker name change? Help !!
Paul Tanner-Tremaine
Settler to South Africa; married Anna Maria Mitford - and came up against a
possible dead end. However, thanks to the internet and news groups, I found
a gedcom file with approx 45000 names in it, including a Bourchier tree. I
have a book, "The Bowkers of Tharfield", published 1952, authors Ivan &
Raymond Mitford-Barberton, which traces most of the Bowker tree. In that
book, the authors state that they had read a document indicating that Miles
Bowker was of direct lineage to the Bourchiers, Earls of Essex, and that he
had brought the "family silver" and crest to South Africa with him. I also
understand that the Bowker coat-of-arms is very similar to the Bourchier
coat-of-arms. I have read that one of the Bourchiers was a signatury to the
death warrant of one of the English kings. Is it possible that the
Bourchiers then changed their name to Bowker, to avoid retributions from the
royalists of the time? If so, where do the two descendant trees below
actually connect? Or am I on a wild goose chase. I think not, as the name
Bourchier does appear in the Bowker tree a few times.
Second part : Miles Bowker married Anna Mitford. Has anyone traced the
linkage/tree from the Roger de Mitford/Bertram marriage, as I also believe
that Anna Maria is a descendant of this union?
Can any one help, please?
The Outline trees.....
Descendants of Robert de Bourchier Lord Bourchier
1 Robert de Bourchier Lord Bourchier 1300 - 1349
. +Margaret de Preyers 1300 -
2 Sir William de Bourchier - 1365
.. +Eleanor de Louvain 1345 - 1397
. 3 Sir William de Bourchier Count de Eu 1374 - 1420
.... +Anne Plantagenet of Gloucester 1383 - 1438
.. 4 Thomas Bourchier Archbishop of Canterbury 1407 - 1486
.. 4 Henry Bourchier Earl of Essex 1409 - 1483
..... +Isabel Plantagenet of York 1409 - 1484
.... 5 William Bourchier Viscount de Bourchier 1433 -
....... +Anne Wydeville 1438 - 1489
...... 6 Cecile Bourchier 1464 - 1492/93
......... +John Devereux Baron Ferrers of Chartley 1463 - 1501
...... 6 Isabel Bourchier 1470 - 1501
...... 6 William Henry Bourchier Earl of Essex 1472 - 1539/40
......... +Mary Say
.. 4 Sir William Bourchier Baron FitzWarin 1412 - 1471
..... +Thomasine Hankford Bss FitzWarin
.... 5 Fulk Bourchier Baron FitzWarin - 1479
....... +Elizabeth Dinham 1449 - 1516
...... 6 Elizabeth Bourchier
......... +Sir Edward Stanhope - 1512
....... 7 Anne Stanhope 1497 - 1587
.......... +Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset Lord Protector 1500 -
1551/52
.. *2nd Wife of Sir William Bourchier Baron FitzWarin:
..... +Katherine de Affeton - 1467
.. 4 Sir John Bourchier Lord Berners 1415 - 1474
..... +Margery Berners 1418 - 1475
.... 5 Elizabeth Bourchier - 1470
.... 5 Sir Humphrey Bourchier 1436 - 1471
....... +Elizabeth Tylney 1440 - 1497
...... 6 Sir John Bourchier Lord Berners 1467 - 1532/33
......... +Katherine Howard 1467 - 1535/36
....... 7 Margaret Bourchier
....... 7 Mary Bourchier
....... 7 Joan Bourchier Bss Berners 1497 - 1561/62
.......... +Sir Edmund Knyvet II 1482 - 1539
...... 6 Margaret Bourchier 1468 - 1552
......... +Sir Thomas Bryan II 1470 - 1516
....... 7 Elizabeth Bryan
.......... +Sir Nicholas Carew
....... 7 Sir Francis Bryan 1490 - 1550
.......... +Philippa Montgomery
....... *2nd Wife of Sir Francis Bryan:
.......... +Joan FitzGerald - 1563/64
...... *2nd Husband of Margaret Bourchier:
......... +John Sandys 1464 -
...... 6 Anne Bourchier 1470 - 1530
.... *2nd Wife of Sir Humphrey Bourchier:
....... +Jane Stanhope - 1489/90
.... 5 Thomas Bourchier 1440 - 1491
.... 5 Joan Bourchier 1442 - 1470
....... +Sir Henry Neville 1437 - 1469
...... 6 Sir Richard Neville Baron Latimer 1468 - 1530
......... +Anne Stafford 1472 -
....... 7 Dorothy Neville
.......... +Sir John Dawney
....... 7 John Neville Baron Latimer 1493 - 1542/43
.......... +Catherine Parr 1512 - 1548
....... 7 Margaret Neville 1494/95 -
.......... +Edward Willoughby 1491 - 1517
....... 7 Elizabeth Neville 1500 -
.......... +Sir Christopher Danby 1496 - 1571
...... *2nd Wife of Sir Richard Neville Baron Latimer:
......... +Margaret (Strangwishe)
.. 4 Eleanor (Anne) Bourchier 1417 - 1474
..... +John Mowbray VI Duke of Norfolk Justice of 1415 - 1461
.... 5 John Mowbray VII Duke of Norfolk 1444 - 1475/76
....... +Elizabeth Talbot
...... 6 Anne Mowbray Countess de Norfolk 1472 - 1481
......... +Richard Plantagenet of York Duke of York 1473 - 1483
2 Sir John de Bourchier Lord Bourchier - 1400
.. +Elizabeth Coggeshall
Descendants of Ralph (I) Bowker
1 Ralph (I) Bowker b: 1541 Blakely/Blackley, Manchester, England
. +. wife R (I) Bowker
2 Ralph (II) Bowker d: 12 Sep 1607
... +Lucy w.of R (II) Bowker d: 08 Mar 1608/09
.. 3 William Bowker
.. 3 Ralph (III) Bowker b: Bradford, Manchester, England
..... +. wife of R(III) Bowker
.... 4 Thomas (I) Bowker b: 11 Apr 1635 Manchester , England
....... +wife of T(I) Bowker
...... 5 Thomas (II) Bowker b: 03 Jun 1666 Manchester, England
......... +Judith Scofield
........ 6 John Bowker b: 1697
........ 6 Houlden Bowker b: 25 Feb 1701/02
.......... 7 Robert Bowker
........ 6 Benjamin Bowker b: 10 Jun 1706 Manchester, England
d:05 Dec 1794
........... +Zenobia Ann Illingworth
.......... 7 James Bowker b: 1741
.......... 7 Ann Bowker b: 16 Apr 1743
.......... 7 Elizabeth Bowker b: 27 Oct 1745
............. +Lewis Mathias b: Grays Inn, London
............ 8 John Mathias
............ 8 Zenobia Ann Mathias
.......... 7 Maria Bowker b: 08 Jun 1749
............. +Robert Haly
...... *2nd Wife of Thomas (II) Bowker:
......... +.w of T(II) Bowker
........ 6 Thomas (III) Joseph Bowker b: 28 Oct 1688
Manchester,England d: in London, England
........... +Elizabeth Brabbin b: 1681 d: 1875
.......... 7 Thomas (IV) Bowker b: 1727 Deckhams Hall, Gateshead
d: 11 Sep 1810
............. +Dorothy Monkhouse b: 1727 Bloan, Westmorland,England
d: 11 Sep 1810 in Walton, near
Morpeth,England
............ 8 Miles Bowker b: 1765 Deckhams Hall, Gateshead,
Durham, England
d: 25 Mar 1839 in Tharfield, Eastern Cape,
South Africa
............... +Ann Maria Mitford b: 1782 d: 08 Jul 1868 in
Tharfield, Eastern Cape, South Africa
.............. 9 John Mitford Bowker b: 13 Apr 1801 Mitford
Hall,,England
d: 1847 in 'Oakwell' near Grahamstown
................. +Mary Anne Standen b: 1814 Hammersmith, London,
England
.............. 9 William Monkhouse Bowker b: 1803 Mitford Hall,
England d: 1876
................. +Hester Susannah Oosthuisen b: Jul 1816
.............. 9 Miles Brabbin Bowker b: 1806 England d: 1864
................. +Barbara Petronella Oosthuisen b: 06 Nov 1809
.............. 9 Thomas Holden Bowker b: 24 Feb 1807 Mitford Hall,
England
d: 26 Oct 1885 in Tharfield, Eastern
Cape, South Africa
................. +Julia Eliza McGowan
.............. 9 Bertram Egerton Bowker b: 1810 England d: 1907
in Johannesburg, South Africa
................. +Anne Simpson
.............. 9 Robert Mitford Bowker b: 1812 England d: 24 Aug
1892
................. +Sarah Elizabeth Hart b: 1820 d: 1875
.............. 9 Septimus Bourchier Bowker b: 1814 England d:
1895 in Alstonfields,
Bedford District, South
Africa
................. +Fanny Forward
.............. 9 Octavius Bourchier Bowker b: 1816 d: 23 Jul 1899
in "Champagne", Zastron, Orange Free State, South
Africa
................. +Mary Anne Stubbs
.............. 9 Mary Elizabeth Bowker b: 05 Jan 1818 Manor
Farm,South Newton, Wiltshire, England
d: 04 Sep 1899 in
Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa
................. +Frederick William Barber b: 20 May 1813
Nottingham, England
d: 02 Jan 1892 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape,
South Africa
.............. 9 Anna Maria Bowker b: 1820 on board the Weymouth
in Cape Town harbour d: 1895
................. +John Frederick Korsten Atherstone b: 1819
d:1894
.............. 9 James Henry Bowker b: 1822 Olive Burn,
EasternCape, South Africa
d: 29 Oct 1900 in on his estate in Escombe,
Durban, Natal
............ 8 Benjamin Bowker
.............. 9 John Harrison Bowker
................. +Margaret wife of John Harrison Bowker
............ 8 Dorothy Bowker b: 1756 d: 1847
............... +William Scurfield b: Coatham Mandeville
............ 8 Catherine Bowker
.......... 7 Catherine Bowker
............. +a Booth
...... 5 Mary Bowker b: 1662
...... 5 Ann Bowker b: 1664
...... 5 Elizabeth Bowker b: 1664
.... 4 Mary Bowker
Descendants of Robert Mitford
1 Robert Mitford b: 1686
. +Mary Osbaldeston b: Humanby, Yorkshire, England
2 1st son of Robert Mitford
2 Robert (ii) Mitford d: 1781
.. 3 John Mitford b: Mitford Castle, Northumberland d: 1832
.... 4 Ann Maria Mitford b: 1782 d: 08 Jul 1868 in Tharfield,
Eastern Cape, South Africa
....... +Miles Bowker b: 1765 Deckhams Hall, Gateshead,
Durham,England
d: 25 Mar 1839 in Tharfield, Eastern Cape,
South Africa
.... 4 2nd dau of John Mitford
.... 4 3rd dau of John Mitford
.... 4 1st son of John Mitford
.... 4 2nd son of John Mitford
.... 4 3rd son of John Mitford
Many Thanks...
Paul Tanner-Tremaine, Westville, Natal, South Africa
e-mail: Paul.Tann...@SouthAfrica.NCR.com
Paul Tanner-Tremaine
Reedpcgen
>Bourchiers then changed their name to Bowker, to avoid retributions from the
>royalists of the time? If so, where do the two descendant trees below
>actually connect?
Buke's General Armory gives one coat of arms for the surname Bowker: Ar. a
bendlet betw. two eagles displ. az.; crest:On a tower, a lion ramp.
This is completely different from the various arms listed for Bouchier and
Bowcher. Papworth's Ordinary lists arms by description [two eagles], but I
don't have that here. This would make it appear there is no direct descent
from the Earls of Essex, illegitimate or otherwise, if those arms are genuine.
There is a pedigree of the Bowker family in Burke's Colonial Gentry, v. 1, p.
24. It claims the arms are "Arg. a cross engrailed gu. between four
water-bougets sa." which is the Bouchier coat-of-arms. But the Earldom became
extinct in 1539, and the barony fell into abeyance in 1646. If there is a
direct descent, it would be illegitimate.
Burke's Colonial Gentry also lists Miles Bowker, Esquire, who moved from
Northumberland into Dorsetshire, and then Wiltshire, before emigrating with the
family to Cape Colony in 1820 (m. Anna Maria Mitford, daughter of Capt. John
Mitford of the Reedsdale Mitfords in Northumberland), as son of Thomas Bowker,
Esquire, of Westmoreland, who moved into Northumberland.
In spite of the tradition, if the men were truly of the status of Esquire,
which is a level above gentleman, but below knight, they should have left
plenty of traceable records. You might start with the Gentleman's Magazine.
There is also a pedigree of the Boucher family in the Cumberland and
Westmoreland Archaeological Society, new series, v. 27, p. 144. If the family
were really descended from a man who "through adherence to the Pretender,
Charles Stuart, was compelled to change his name from Bouchier to Bowker" there
should still have been plenty of evidence of this family in either the
visitations of Lancashire, the Lancashire and Cheshire Historical Society, or
other sources, but they aren't. I am inclined to believe this is a convenient
fable.
Your Mitfords would probably be found in Hodgson's History of Northumberland or
the New History of Northumberland, or more probably Ruvigny's descents from the
royal family.
The Mitfords of Northumberland [ca. 1500-1600] married with hte Musgraves,
Widdringtons, Lawsons, etc., so there is much colorful ancestry.
Burke's Landed Genrty, 1937, p. 1607, says the Mitfords of Redesdale are
descended from John Mitford, merchant of London, b. ca. 1643, d. 1740, m. 30
May 1671, Sarah Powell, da. and coheir of Henry Powell. This John was third
son of Robert Mitford, of Mitford castle, b. 1612, by his wife Philadelphia
Wharton, da. of Humphrey Wharton of Gillingwood, Yorks. That's the connection
int the ancient line.
John Mitford, b. 18 Aug. 1748, 2nd son of John Mitford (d. 16 May 1761) of
Newton House, Kent, and Exbury, Hampshire, was created Lord Redesdale in 1802,
and his son John Thomas was created Earl of Redesdale in 1877.
There is some account of this family in Bridges' Collins' Peerage 9:182-6,
which traces [1] John Mitford, third son of Robert and Philadelphia, through
his son [2] William Mitford, d. 1747, to his third son [3] John Mitford, d.
1761, to his second son [4] Sir John Freeman Mitford, Lord Redesdale, b. 1748,
but I cannot immediately see how this connects to your Capt. John Mitford.
The connection may be given in Burke's Peerage under Redesdale, but my copy of
that volume appears to be buried deep in storage.
pcr
Reedpcgen
>Descendants of Robert Mitford
> 1 Robert Mitford b: 1686
> . +Mary Osbaldeston b: Humanby, Yorkshire, England
> 2 1st son of Robert Mitford
> 2 Robert (ii) Mitford d: 1781
> .. 3 John Mitford b: Mitford Castle, Northumberland d: 1832
> .... 4 Ann Maria Mitford b: 1782
Oops. I see that Burke's Landed Gentry, 1937, p. 1607, gives Robert Mitford,
of Mitford castle, b. 8 Aug. 1686, m. Mary Osbaldeston (4th da. and ultimately
coheir of Sir Richard), as eldest son of Robert Mitford of Mitford castle, b.
31 Oct. 1662, m. 19 Dec. 1684, Anne Ashton, da. and coheir of John Ashton, son
of Ralph Assheton of Middleton.
That Robert was son of Humphrey Mitford, b. 1632, m. 1662, Francs Vane, da. of
Sir George Vane, of Rogerly, Durham. Humphrey was eldest son of Robert
Mitford, of Mitford Castle, b. 1612, who m. Philadelphia Wharton. So the
mention in Burke's Colonial gentry of Capt. John Mitford, of the 85th Foot,
being from the Redesdale branch was a red herring.
pcr
P. S. Capt. John Mitford's mother was Anna Lewis, who is stated to have borne
23 children, 18 of whom died in infancy. She was daughter of John Lewis of
Jamaica.
Dcrdcr4
the Bourchiers and found various variants spellings of the surname, but nothing
similar to Bowker. All for now. Douglas Richardson
Tim Powys-Lybbe
"Paul Tanner-Tremaine" <pau...@names.ibi.co.za> wrote:
> I have been researching the Bowker family - Miles Bowker who was an 1820
> Settler to South Africa; married Anna Maria Mitford - and came up against a
> possible dead end. However, thanks to the internet and news groups, I found
> a gedcom file with approx 45000 names in it, including a Bourchier tree. I
> have a book, "The Bowkers of Tharfield", published 1952, authors Ivan &
> Raymond Mitford-Barberton, which traces most of the Bowker tree. In that
> book, the authors state that they had read a document indicating that Miles
> Bowker was of direct lineage to the Bourchiers, Earls of Essex, and that he
> had brought the "family silver" and crest to South Africa with him. I also
> understand that the Bowker coat-of-arms is very similar to the Bourchier
> coat-of-arms. I have read that one of the Bourchiers was a signatury to the
> death warrant of one of the English kings. Is it possible that the
> Bourchiers then changed their name to Bowker, to avoid retributions from the
> royalists of the time? If so, where do the two descendant trees below
> actually connect? Or am I on a wild goose chase. I think not, as the name
> Bourchier does appear in the Bowker tree a few times.
>
<snip of the various descents>
I have a copy of the National Trust guide to Beningbrough Hall, nr York,
England. The Bourchiers used to own the Hall and the guide has a
family tree at the end. This tree shows:
(a) That William Bourchier (1559-1584) married Katherine Barrington,
daughter of Sir Thomas Barrington.
(b) They had a son Sir John Bourchier (d.1659) who was a parliamentarian
and regicide.
(c) That the ownership of the estate passed through Sir John's son
Barrington Bourchier and continued in the Bourchier family until the
mid 1750s when the male Bourchier line died out.
The regicide Bourchier would have escaped any punishment because he died
just before the Restoration.
There is absolutely no sign or possibility of the Boruchiers changing
their name.
It may be worth adding that the Barringtons were also a strong
Parliamentarian family. Sir Thomas' great-grandson, Sir John Barrington,
was undoubtedly invited to join in the trial of Charles I but retired
from politics rather than do this.
But Sir Thomas' son Francis married Joan Cromwell, aunt of the Protector
who very definitely did sign the execution warrant.
And is it worth mentioning that politics apart, the first of these Sir
Thomas Barringtons married Winifred Pole, an unfortunate lady who had had
her father, her grandmother, her great-uncle, her great-grandfather all
executed in the Tower by the order of various sovereigns. And her only
brother was undoubtedly imprisoned in the Tower as a boy of around 10
and either died or was also executed there. Might not she have harboured
some bitterness that was passed on to her descendants and relatives?
--
Tim Powys-Lybbe t...@southfrm.demon.co.uk
For a patchwork of bygones: www.southfrm.demon.co.uk
Nat Kellett
Henry Bowker 1634 - 1676
Thomas Bowker 1556 - 1600
Henry Bowker 1540 - 1598 son of Henry 2nd Earl of Essex,6th Baron Bourchier
Henry 2nd Earl of Essex, 6th Baron Bourchier 1472 - 1540 son of William Vicount Bourchier
William Viscount Bourchier 1433 - 1471 son of Henry Burchier