Biography

William Bosville. (1745-1813)

Son of Godfrey Bosville of Gunthwaite and Diana Wentworth, daughter of Sir Win. Wentworth, 4th Bart of Bretton. Brother of Elisabeth Diana Bosville (d. 1789), the wife of Lord Macdonald of Slate. He was educated at Harrow and entered the Coldstream Guards in December, 1761. A very distant relative of JBs, the names Bosville and Boswell actually both comes from the french Boisville (acc. to Boswell himself, LJ180463). He retired from the army with the rank of Lieutenant in 1777.

He was known as a Bon Vivant in his own lifetime (Link), and had dinner parties in his house on Welbeck Street, London, on an almost daily basis up until his death. He was also a friend of author John Horne Tooke (1736-1812), also known as The Philosopher of Wimbledon. He was buried in the chancel in St. Giles-in-the-Fields.¹

Life with James Boswell:

Boswell first met Bosville (coincidentally?) on April 18, 1763 at the Tower of London. In LJ he described the moment as a happy occasion, and Boswell became a firm friend of the Bosvilles later on.

External links:

• University of Hull: Bosville-Macdonald family of Gunthwaite,

This article was last updated at February 16 2008 21:29:24 CET

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