Sir William Bowyer-Smijth, Bt
High Sheriff of Essex
In office
1889–1889
Preceded byEdward North Buxton
Succeeded byRichard Beale Colvin
Personal details
Born(1840-09-01)1 September 1840
Died22 July 1916(1916-07-22) (aged 75)
Tunbridge Wells
RelationsSir Henry Bruce Meux, 3rd Baronet (cousin)
George Capell, 7th Earl of Essex (cousin)
Parent(s)Sir William Bowyer-Smijth, Bt
Marianne Frances Meux
EducationEton College

Sir William Bowyer-Smijth, 12th Baronet (1 September 1840 – 22 July 1916) was an English diplomat.

Early life

Bowyer-Smijth was born on 1 September 1840 and baptised on 21 September 1840 at 13 Lower Grosvenor Street in London. He was the son of Sir William Bowyer-Smijth, 11th Baronet and Marianne Frances Meux. While still married to his mother, his father left her and, pretending to be a widower, courted and then married sixteen year old Eliza Fechnie Malcolm.[1] They had twelve children, six sons and seven daughters while his mother was still alive.[1] A week after his mother's death in 1875, his father remarried Eliza.[2] Although legitimised under Scottish law by petition in 1918, the baronetcy and estates could not pass to the children of his father's second marriage.[1]

His paternal grandfather was the Rev. Sir Edward Bowyer-Smijth, 10th Baronet of Hill Hall, in 1839.[3] His maternal grandparents were Sir Henry Meux, 1st Baronet and the former Elizabeth-Mary Smith. Among his extended family were first cousins, Sir Henry Bruce Meux, 3rd Baronet (who married socialite Valerie Langdon)[4][5] and George Capell, 7th Earl of Essex,[6] who married American heiress Adele Beach Grant.[7]

Bowyer-Smijth was educated at Eton College.[3]

Career

He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1858 and by 1863 was Third Secretary in 1863. He was Second Secretary to Constantinople between 1874 and 1881 Secretary of the British Legation to Yeddo (the former name of Tokyo) between 1881 and 1883 until his resignation.[3][8]

Upon the death of his father on 20 November 1883, he succeeded as the 12th Baronet Smith, of Hill Hall and was appointed High Sheriff of Essex in 1889.[3]

Personal life

Sir William died, unmarried, on 22 July 1916 at Arundel House on Clarence Road in Tunbridge Wells.[9] The baronetcy then reverted to his first cousin, Alfred John Bowyer-Smyth, eldest son of the Rev. Alfred John Edward Bowyer-Smijth, younger son of his grandfather, who thus became the 13th Baronet who changed the spelling of the family surname to Bowyer-Smyth.[10] He also died childless in 1927 and was succeeded by his nephew, Philip, the son of Clement Weyland Bowyer-Smijth.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Scots Law Times. Vol. I. Edinburgh: W. Green and Son. 1918. p. 156.
  2. ↑ "A Legitimacy Claim". The Argus, Melbourne. 7 December 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cokayne, George Edward, editor, The Complete Baronetage, 5 volumes; Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), volume III, page 237.
  4. ↑ "LADY MEUX DEAD, RICH PATRON OF ART; A Former Actress and Notable Woman Who Was Never " Received" in English Society. OWNED A DERBY WINNER Attended Theosophlcal Society Meetings and Went Disguised to Prize fights--$300,000 a Year Income". The New York Times. 22 December 1910. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  5. ↑ "MEUX SALE TO-DAY.; Treasures of Brewer's Widow Include Stuart Silver and Tudor Staircase". The New York Times. 15 May 1911. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  6. ↑ "EARL OF ESSEX DEAD.; Husband of Adela B. Grant of New York, Who inherited $591,000". The New York Times. 26 September 1916. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "COUNTESS OF ESSEX DIES IN HER BATH; Former Adele Grant of New York Stricken With Heart Attack After Dinner Party. TRIED TO SUMMON HELP Dowager, Once Famous Beauty, Was Model for Herkomer's "A Lady in White."". The New York Times. 29 July 1922. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  8. ↑ Debrett's illustrated baronetage and knightage (and companionage) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1885. pp. 478–479. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  9. ↑ "Sir William Bowyer-Smijth". The Looker-on. 30 September 1916. p. 11. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  10. ↑ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 464.
  11. ↑ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1895). Armorial families. Edinburgh: Grange Publishing Works. pp. 119.
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