Edward Bourchier, 4th Earl of Bath

Detail from effigy of Edward Bourchier, 4th Earl of Bath (d.1636) shown as a kneeling mourner beside the monument to his father William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath (d.1623), Tawstock Church, Devon

Canting arms of Bourchier: Argent, a cross engrailed gules between four water bougets sable

Edward Bourchier, 4th Earl of Bath (Baptised 1 March 1590 – 31 March 1636).

Origins

He was born on 27 Aug 1575 in Somerset the eldest son and heir of William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath by his wife Elizabeth Russell, daughter of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford by Margaret St John.

Education

He was educated at Caius College, Cambridge.^[1][2]

Marriages & progeny

Edward married twice:

• Firstly on 14 July 1623 to his second cousin Dorothy St John (d.1632), daughter of Oliver St John, 3rd Baron St John of Bletso by his wife Dorothy Read.^[1] They had the following progeny:^[3]
  • William Bourchier (11 April 1624 – 19 February 1689) married Sarah Coole and had descendants.
  • John Bourchier, Baron FitzWarin (21 January 1630 – September, 1631), died young
  • Lady Elizabeth Bourchier (1626 – 22 September 1670), married Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh, without progeny
  • Lady Dorothy Bourchier (1627–1659) married firstly Thomas, Lord Grey of Groby and was the mother of Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford; secondly Gustavus Mackworth, by whom she had issue.^[4]
  • Lady Anne Bourchier (1631-?), married firstly James Cranfield, 2nd Earl of Middlesex, the issue of which marriage was soon extinct;^[4] secondly Sir Chichester Wray, 6th Baronet (1652–1679), whose descendants, on the death of the 5th Earl of Bath in 1654, inherited the principal Bourchier seat of Tawstock.
• Secondly, in 1633, to Ann Lovett, daughter of Sir Robert Lovett of Liscombe Park Buckinghamshire by his wife, Anne Saunders. Without progeny.

Succession

As he died without surviving male issue, the earldom devolved upon his father's first cousin Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath (d.1654), who died without issue whereupon the title became extinct.^[4]

Death & burial

Amongst his possessions at his death was the Illyrian armorial with the arms of the families and surnames of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Dalmatia, Macedonia, Montenengro, Serbia and Slavonia from the Armorial of Stanislas Rubčić, King of Arms to Tsar Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia.^[5]

References