Charles Rouse-Boughton

Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton (December 1747 – 26 February 1821) was an administrator in India with the East India Company and subsequently a member of the British House of Commons representing first Evesham and then Bramber.

Biography

Early life

Charles was the second son of Shuckburgh Boughton of Poston Court Hereford and Mary Greville, daughter of Algernon Greville. He went to India as a writer in 1765, and held several judicial and administrative offices in the service of the East India Company. He was at various times a Persian interpreter and senior merchant and judge. During his time in India he inherited an estate at Rouse Lench, Worcestershire by the will of Thomas Phillips Rouse.

He left the East India Company and after returning to England in 1778, stood for Parliament at Evesham in 1780, where he was elected as one of the members after a hard fought battle. His main interest in politics was India, and the speeches which he made between 1780 and 1790 all dealt with Indian affairs. In 1784 he was appointed Secretary to the Board of Control for India, and held the post until 1791. He opposed the impeachment of Warren Hastings.

Later life

Charles did not contest the 1790 election and left Parliament. He assumed the name of Rouse by Royal Licence in 1791 and was created 1st Baronet Boughton Rouse. In 1794 he inherited the title 9th Baronet of Langford and changed his surname to Rouse Boughton.

At the general election in 1796 he was returned unopposed at Bramber, a notorious Rotten borough, where an agreement had operated since 1774, by which the two owners of the `miserable thatched cottages' who had the right to vote at Bramber returned a member each. In the new Parliament, he spoke several times on Indian affairs. He vacated his seat in 1800, when he was appointed an Audit Commissioner, a post he held until his death in 1821.

Family

He married Catherine Pearce Hall, the daughter of William Pearce Hall and his wife Catherine Comyn, in 1781. Catherine was heiress of the Downton estates near Ludlow, including Downton Hall. This was fortunate for Charles, since his brother Edward had bequeathed the Boughton estates to his natural daughters by a serving maid. Catherine enhanced the estate at Downton, planting High Grove, or Catherine's Grove, and her portrait was painted by Romney in 1785. Charles was interested in agriculture and was renowned for his remarkable pig. In London he lived at Corney House Chiswick.

Charles' son William inherited the baronetcy and his daughter Louise married firstly St Andrew St John, 14th Baron St John of Bletso and secondly Sir John Vaughan.

In the programme Who Do You Think You Are? (transmitted on BBC2 on August 23, 2010), comedian Alexander Armstrong discovered that he is a descendant of Sir Charles.

References

• Romney Sedgwick History of Parliament: the Commons - 1754-1790, HMSO
• R. G. Thorne History of Parliament: the Commons - 1790-1820, HMSO
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Burke's Peerage and Baronetage

External links

• Shropshire Pig

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Henry Seymour John Rushout	Member of Parliament for Evesham 1780–1790 With: John Rushout	Succeeded by Thomas Thompson John Rushout
Preceded by Thomas Coxhead Sir Henry Gough	Member of Parliament for Bramber 1796–1800 With: James Adams	Succeeded by John Henry Newbolt James Adams
Baronetage of England
Preceded by Sir Edward Boughton	Baronet (of Lawford) 1794-1821	Succeeded by Sir William Edward Rouse Boughton
New creation	Baronet (of Rouse Lench) 1791-1821	Succeeded by Sir William Edward Rouse Boughton

Persondata
Name	Rouse Boughton, Sir Charles William
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1747
Place of birth
Date of death	26 February 1821
Place of death