Sir Alexander Bosville Macdonald, 14th Baronet

Sir Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville Macdonald, 14th Baronet JP DL ( Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville; 26 September 1865 – 26 March 1933) was an English landowner of Scottish descent.

Sir Alexander Bosville Macdonald, Bt
High Sheriff of Yorkshire
In office
1901–1902
Preceded byWilliam Henry Battie-Wrightson
Succeeded bySir Theophilus Peel, 1st Baronet
Personal details
Born
Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville

(1865-09-26)26 September 1865
Died26 March 1933(1933-03-26) (aged 67)
Thorpe Hall, East Riding, Yorkshire
Spouse
Alice Edith Middleton
(m. 1886; died 1933)
RelationsHenry Willoughby, 8th Baron Middleton (uncle)
Children2
Parent(s)Godfrey Wentworth Bayard Bosville
Hon. Harriet Cassandra Willoughby
EducationEton College
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford

Early life

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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]

Career

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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]

Personal life

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Arcadian Shepherds by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
 
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes by Joachim Beuckelaer

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]

Art collection

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From his father, Sir Alexander inherited the c. 1655 Arcadian Shepherds by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, and the c. 1563 The 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]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, pps. 450-451.
  2. ^ a b c "DEATH OF E.R. BARONET. SIR ALEXANDER MACDONALD OF THE ISLES. HOLDER OF HISTORIC TITLE". Hull Daily Mail. 27 March 1933. p. 8. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Clan Donald Society | Events since 1900". www.clandonald.org. Clan Donald. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Macdonald of the Isles, Sir Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ Stirling, Anna Maria Wilhelmina (1914). Macdonald of the Isles; A romance of the past and present. London: J. Murray. p. 51 note 1.
  6. ^ Macdonald, Donald J. (18 January 2008). Clan Donald. Pelican Publishing. p. 417. ISBN 978-1-4556-0233-9.
  7. ^ "No. 27293". The London Gazette. 12 March 1901. p. 1760.
  8. ^ Macdonald, Alice Edith Middleton (1928). The Fortunes of a Family (Bosville of New Hall, Gunthwaite and Thorpe) Through Nine Centuries, / by Lady Macdonald of the Isles. Edinburgh, Printed by T. and A. Constable ltd., 1928. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  9. ^ Macdonald, Lady Alice Edith Middleton (1929). All the Days of My Life. J. Murray. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  10. ^ "Thorpe Hall & the Macdonald Family - Rudston". www.rudston.org.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Sir Alexander Wentworth Macdonald Bosville Macdonald of the Isles, fourteenth Bart". www.getty.edu. Getty. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Arcadian Shepherds". www.getty.edu. The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  13. ^ "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes". www.getty.edu. The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
Baronetage of Nova Scotia
Preceded by Baronet
(of Sleat)
1865–1933
Succeeded by