Sir Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville Macdonald, 14th Baronet JP DL ( né Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville; 26 September 1865 – 26 March 1933) was an English landowner of Scottish descent.
Born as Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville (1826–1865) on 26 September 1865, he was the only son of Godfrey Wentworth Bayard Bosville, de jure 13th Baronet, and Hon. Harriet Cassandra Willoughby, who was granted the rank of a baron's daughter in c. 1856. His father died less than a month after his birth. His paternal aunt, Julia Louisa Bosville, married his maternal uncle, Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton. [1]
His paternal grandparents were Alexander William Robert Bosville (eldest son of Lt.-Gen. Godfrey Macdonald, 3rd Baron Macdonald) and Matilda Eliza Moffat Bayard (a daughter of Col. John Bayard). His maternal grandparents were Henry Willoughby (son of the Rev. Hon. James Willoughby, a grandson of the 1st Baron Middleton) and Charlotte Eyre (a daughter of Venerable John Eyre Archdeacon of Nottingham). [1]
He was educated at Aldin House, Slough, then Eton College before attending Magdalen College, Oxford. [2]
Less than a month after his birth, he became de jure 14th Baronet Macdonald, of Sleat, in the Isle of Skye, County Inverness, in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. Upon the death of his great-grandfather, Godfrey Macdonald, 3rd Baron Macdonald, 11th Baronet, in 1832 the baronetcy reverted as his three eldest children were born before his marriage to Louisa Maria La Coast (said to have been the illegitimate daughter of Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, himself a son of Frederick, Prince of Wales and a younger brother of King George III), so they were considered illegitimate, while the ten children born after their marriage were considered legitimate. The eldest three were eventually legitimized by Scottish law, but not by Irish law, therefore, the baronetcy passed, de jure, to his eldest son, Alexander (the grandfather of the 14th Baronet), while the Irish barony passed to his third son, Godfrey. [3] Alexander's claim, however, was not formally recognised until a Court of Sessions decree on 4 June 1910. [4] With this revival of the 1625 title, granted precedence as second of the Nova Scotia baronets at the time, the holder became the premier baronet. [5] To 1908, the Gordon baronets of Letterfourie, created 28 May 1625, had been premier. [6] On 30 June 1910 his name was legally changed to Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville Macdonald confirmed by Lord Lyon King of Arms. [1]
He inherited the family estates at Thorpe and Gunthwaite, both in Yorkshire, which came into the family through Elizabeth Diana Bosville (wife of Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald and heiress of her uncle, William Bosville). He was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of East Riding, Yorkshire. He also served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1901. [7]
On 20 October 1886, Alexander married Alice Edith Middleton (1861–1935), a writer who was a daughter of John Middleton of Kinfauns Castle, Perth, [8] [9] a descendant of the "old Scottish Earls of Middleton." [2] Together, they lived at Thorpe Hall, Bridlington, [10] and were the parents of: [1]
Sir Alexander died at Thorpe Hall on 26 March 1933, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only son, Godfrey. [2] His widow died on 15 July 1935. [1]
From his father, Sir Alexander inherited the c. 1655Arcadian Shepherds by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, and the c. 1563The Miraculous Draught of Fishes by Joachim Beuckelaer. [11] The Miraculous Draught of Fishes had been acquired by his great-grandfather, the 3rd Baron Macdonald, by 1821, and Arcadian Shepherds by the 3rd Baron Macdonald from Christie's in 1822 (from the 2nd Marquess of Bute). [12] Both stayed in the family until the early 1907s when they were sold by his great-grandson, Sir Ian Bosville Macdonald, 17th Baronet. Arcadian Shepherds was sold at Christie's in 1970 to David Carritt, Ltd. (who sold it to the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1972) and The Miraculous Draught of Fishes was consigned in 1971 to Herner-Wengraf Ltd in London who sold it to the J. Paul Getty Museum. [13]
Baron Middleton, of Middleton in the County of Warwick, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, created in December 1711 for Sir Thomas Willoughby, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Nottinghamshire and Newark in Parliament. It was one of twelve new peerages created together and known as Harley's Dozen, to give a Tory majority in the House of Lords.
Baron Macdonald, of Slate in the County of Antrim, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1776 for Sir Alexander Macdonald, 9th Baronet, of Sleat. The Macdonald family of Sleat descends from Uisdean Macdonald, also known as Hugh of Sleat, or Hugh Macdonald, who was an illegitimate son of Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross. On 28 May 1625, his great-great-great-great-grandson Donald Gorm Og Macdonald was created a baronet, of Sleat in the Isle of Skye in the County of Inverness, in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. The baronetcy was created with remainder to heirs male whatsoever and with a special clause of precedence which provided that it should have precedency over all former baronets.
Rudston is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Driffield and Bridlington approximately 6 miles west of Bridlington, and lies on the B1253 road. The Gypsey Race runs through the village, which lies in the Great Wold Valley. There are a number of Neolithic sites associated with the stream and its valley. It is the current Seat of the Clan Macdonald of Sleat, the head of the family residing at Thorpe Hall.
Sir Isaac Penington was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1653. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1642 and a prominent member of Oliver Cromwell's government.
Clan Macdonald of Sleat, sometimes known as Clan Donald North and in Gaelic Clann Ùisdein, is a Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald—one of the largest Scottish clans. The founder of the Macdonalds of Sleat was Ùisdean, or Hugh, a 6th great-grandson of Somerled, a 12th-century Lord of the Isles. The clan is known in Gaelic as Clann Ùisdein, and its chief's Gaelic designation is Mac Ùisdein, in reference to the clan's founder. Both the clan and its clan chief are recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, who is the heraldic authority in Scotland.
Henry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton, was an English peer.
Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald DL was a Scottish nobleman and Chief of Clan MacDonald of Sleat.
Alexander Wentworth Macdonald, 2nd Baron Macdonald was a Scottish peer and Member of Parliament.
Lt.-General Godfrey Bosville Macdonald, 3rd Baron Macdonald of Sleat was a Scottish aristocrat.
There have been four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Willoughby, three in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. One creation is extant as of 2008.
John James Hope-Johnstone of Annandale DL was a Scottish Tory politician.
Sir John Henry Thorold, 12th Baronet was a British Conservative Party politician.
Colonel Godfrey Bosvile II (1596–1658) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1653. He fought on the Parliamentarian side in the English Civil War.
The Venerable John Eyre was Archdeacon of Nottingham
John George Smyth JP DL MP was a Conservative member of Parliament for the City of York from August 28, 1847 to July 11, 1865.
Sir William Wentworth, 4th Baronet (1686–1763), of Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire, was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1731 to 1741.
Colonel William Bosville (1745–1813), FRS, of New Hall, Gunthwaite, of Thorpe Hall, Rudston, both in Yorkshire, and of 76 Welbeck Street, St Giles in the Fields, London, was an English landowner and celebrated bon vivant. In politics he was an ardent Whig. When his friend William Cobbett was in Newgate Prison, Bosville went in his coach and four to visit him, and afterwards gave him a cheque for £1,000 as a token of sympathy with him in his persecutions. In appearance he was almost as eccentric as in his manners. He used always to dress in the style of a courtier of King George II, and wore a single-breasted coat, powdered hair and queue. In 1792 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He appears as a minor figure in several political caricatures by James Gillray and two portraits of him survived at Thorpe Hall in 1927.
Eliza Maria Gordon-Cumming Willoughby, Lady Middleton was a Scottish poet.
The Macdonald baronetcy, later Bosville Macdonald Baronetcy, of Sleat in the Isle of Skye, County of Inverness, was created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia on 14 July 1625 for Donald Macdonald. The 9th baronet was created Baron Macdonald in 1776.
Sir Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet, 14th Chief of Sleat was a Scottish Chief of Clan Macdonald of Sleat.