Sir Charles Rouse-Boughton, 9th Baronet

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.

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.

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.

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.

He married Catherine Pearce Hall, the daughter of William Pearce Hall and his wife Catherine Comyn, in 1759. Catherine was heiress of the Downton estates near Ludlow, including Downton Castle. 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 St Andrew St John, 14th Baron St John of Bletso.

External links

* [http://www.rdg.ac.uk/rhc/online_exhibitions/livestok/cat_ls.html Shropshire Pig]

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 Baronetage & Peerage

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