Godfrey Bosvile (bef. 1596 - 1658)

Born before 12 Apr 1596 in Sprotbrough, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

Godfrey Bosvile (bapt. Sprotsborough, co. York 12 Apr 1596-1658) was the son of Mary Copley (m.(2) Fulke Greville, mother of 2nd Lord Brooke) and Ralph Bosville. He m. Margaret Greville, 1s. William (b. 1620) and 2d. ^[1]

Godfrey Bosvile had been involved in the Providence Island Company, and was a patron of Puritan ministers in Yorkshire. He was the heir of Gunthwaite, Yorkshire which he abandoned in favor of his estate at Wroxall, Warwickshire, where he lived during the Civil War. He was elected MP for Warwick in the Short Parliament. ^[2]

This Godfrey who was the second of that Christian name of Gunthwaite did not make it his permanent residence at first but fixed himself at Wroxhall in Warwickshire amongst his wife's kindred where he was living when the question between the King and parliament was advancing to its mighty issue. His brother, the Lord Brook and his brother-in-law, Sir Andrew Hessilbrigge, were both eminent asserters of popular rights, and in this they were followed by Godfrey Boswell who had been returned member for the borough of Warwick in 1640 and was one of the association for tie defense of the county against the Papists and other disaffected persons, 1642. When the parties prepared to try their strength in the field, he was one of the deputy Lieutenants for Warwickshire, 28 June 1642; he was made Colonel January 27, 1643 and commanded a regiment of foot, March 22nd following. In the autumn of 1647 he was present at the defending of Warwick Castle against the King, and on the success of Lord Brook at Coventry he had the command of a party that recovered the Speaker's House at Besils-Lee. In December 1642 he was attended his duty in parliament and was deputed by he House of Commons to wait upon Lord Brook and give him thanks for the excellent speech he had delivered in the House of Peers against an accommodation, and hie seems to have been much in other affairs besides those of war that Colonel Godfrey signalized himself in those times. In 1643 he was named as one of the commission for the West riding of Yorkshire to put in force the act for the raising and levying of money. In 1648 he was named to the High Court of Justice for the trial of King Charles I, on which however he never sat and in 1649 was one of the thirty-seven treasurers of war. This Godfrey Boswell also succeeded to the rectory manor of Penistone falling in heirship which had been bought by his grandfather Ralph and by him presented to Godfrey Boswell, Ralph's brother and father of Francis Boswell (born 1563). Godfrey Boswell by his wife Margaret Greville had issue, one son and two daughters:

1. Elizabeth, married Herbert Pelham in descent from John de Pelham, temp

Edward III. This Herbert's son, Sir Thomas Pelham, the 3rd baronet, was created a peer 1706 with the title of Lord Pelham of Laughton Sussex. This family enjoys the peerage in two branches now represented by the Duke of Newcastle in this descent and the other by Lord Yarborough. (See also Earl of Chichester)

1. Mary, married, 2nd March 1642 at Marleybone Church, London, George

Sedescue, a Bohemian noble of some distinction who lost his estate and took refuge in England for being at the battle of Prague on the side of the elector Palatine. By his marriage, his sympathies went with her family and he rose to be a Major in the Parliamentary Army. He died at Heath Hall, Yorks and was buried at Normanton, 1688. His name is found as a subscriber to various charities in Yorkshire, particularly where the Boswells had an interest in, with whose family he lived on the most friendly terms. In the marriage register of the Bishop of London, both Mary Boswell and George Sedescue are described as of St Andrews Holbom.

1. William, succeeded to Gunthwaite and is named by Ludlow in his memoirs

as one of a hundred gentlemen belonging to the Inns of Court, who, with himself, formed themselves into a body of horse under Sir Philip Stapleton ad guards to the Earl of Essex. He had the rank of Captain in the Parliamentary Army in January 1643 and was desperately wounded in the fight at Aylesford between Sir Wm Waller and Sir Ralph Hopton in March 1644. He had afterwards the rank of Major. He was in several commissions in the time of the commonwealth including that for selling the fee farm rents of the Duchess of Lancaster and Cornwall in 1649, and in 1656 for the sale of the forests of Sherwood, Needwood, Kingswood and Enfield. After the restoration, he made the declaration required, May 25th, 1660, and received his pardon. On this he and his wife Mary, a daughter of Roger Wilkinson and step-daughter of Sir Isaac Pennington, the Lord Mayor of London, returned to Gunthwaite where they both died within two years of each other and were buried in the church at Penistone. He was described as of Richmond, Surrey, in a license granted by the Bishop of Winchester to himself, his wife, family and guests, to eat flesh during Lent, dated 2nd March, 1660 ^[3]

Research Notes

Godfrey Bosvile

Birth: 12 Apr 1596, Sprotbrough, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England

Death: 1658

Father: Ralph Bosvile, Esq.

Mother: Mary (Copley) Greville

Marriage & Family

Spouse: Margaret Greville

Children:

1. Elizabeth Bosvile (Pelham)
2. William Bosville

Sources

1. ↑ Papers of the Bosville-Macdonald Family of Gunthwaite, Thorpe and Skye Hull HIstory Centre
2. ↑ Politics, Society and Civil War in Warwickshire, 1620-1660 p. 176
3. ↑ Boswell Family History - Volume II - Ch 24 by J J Boswell, original manuscript held at Fondazione Sella in Biella, Italy

• Source: Dransfield, John Ness. A History of the Parish of Penistone (James H. Wood, The Don Press, Penistone, 1906) Page 22

"Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, esq., and of Wroxall, co. Warw. son and heir, bap. at Sprotborough 12 Apr. 1596; member in the Long Parliament for Warw. and col. of a regiment of foot in the parliament army, died in 1658" married "Margaret, dau. of sir Edward Grevile, of Harold-Park, co. Essex, by Jane his wife, dau. of John Lord Grey, brother of the duke of Suffolk."

• Source: Richardson, Douglas: Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd edn. (2011), 4 vols, Volume 1, page 264, BOSVILE 14.

• Source: Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, in 5 vols. (Salt Lake City, Utah, 2013), Vol. I. page 443.

Acknowledgments

Magna Carta Project

Godfrey Bosvile appears in Magna Carta Ancestry in a Richardson-documented trail from Gateway Ancestor Elizabeth Bosvile to Magna Carta Surety Barons Hugh le Bigod and Roger le Bigod (vol. I, pages 261-265 BOSVILE). Portions of this trail need further development by the Project. The trails are set out in the Magna Carta Trails section below.

• Needs Development: This profile was just put under management of the Magna Carta Project and needs development against the project's checklist to bring it up to current project standards. ~ Thiessen-117 00:39, 16 July 2020 (UTC)

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".

Magna Carta Trails

Unbadged Richardson-documented trail to the Bigods (MCA I:261-265 BOSVILE):

Gateway Ancestor Elizabeth Bosvile (trail pending/5-star needs development)

1. Elizabeth is the daughter of Godfrey Bosvile (trail pending/needs development)

2. Godfrey is the son of Ralph Bosvile (trail pending/needs development)

3. Ralph is the son of Ralph Bosvile (trail pending/needs development)

4. Ralph is the son of John Bosvile (trail pending/needs development)

5. John is the son of Agnes Clapham (trail pending/needs development)

6. Anne is the daughter of Margaret Calverley (trail pending/needs development)

7. Margaret is the daughter of Walter Calverley (trail pending/needs development)

8. Walter is the son of Joan Bigod (trail pending/needs development)

9. Joan is the daughter of John Bigod (trail pending/needs development)

10. John is the son of Roger le Bigod (badged/100% 5-star)

11. Roger is the son of John le Bigod (badged/100% 5-star)

12. John is the son of Ralph le Bigod (badged/100% 5-star)

13. Ralph is the son of Magna Carta Surety Hugh le Bigod

14. Hugh is the son of Magna Carta Surety Roger le Bigod