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was the second son of Sir William Des Bouverie, and brother of Sir Edward, the second baronet. Like his father, uncles, and brother, he was a successful London merchant. He was the namesake of his uncle Jacob, M.P. for Hythe (in the third and fourth parliaments of William III., and the last of Anne), at whose death on 2d September 1722 he succeeded to an estate at Folkestone, in Kent. On 31st January 1723 he married Mary, only child of Mr. Bartholomew Clarke, an eminent London merchant, who made a large fortune, and acquired Hardingstone and Delapre Abbey in Northamptonshire. Mr. Des Bouverie succeeded his brother on 21st November 1736 as third baronet, and entered into possession of Longford Castle, near Salisbury. Lady Des Bouverie died on 24th November 1739, and her memory is kept up by the family of Bouverie of Delapre Abbey, founded by her second son. Sir Jacob was M.P. for Salisbury in the ninth parliament of Great Britain, and also held the honorary office of Recorder of that city, then known as New Sarum. On 21st April 1741 he married his second wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Robert, Lord Romney; her son, Philip Bouverie, founded, or rather revived the family of Pusey. Sir Jacob adopted Bouverie as the spelling of his surname; and as Sir Jacob Bouverie he was advanced to the peerage on 20th June 1747 as Viscount Folkestone and Baron Longford.

In 1754, on the suggestion of Mr. William Shipley, of Northampton, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce was instituted. The following account was read before the Society of Antiquaries:—

“At the first meeting which was held at Rathmill’s Coffee House, in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, March 22, 1754, were present Lord Viscount Folkestone, Lord Romney, Dr. Hales, Mr Henry Baker, Mr. Shipley, &c., &c. It was then proposed to give premiums for the discovery of cobalt, and for the cultivation of madder, and for the best drawings made by boys and girls. The above two noble lords, to whose goodness, generosity, and public spirit, the very being of this Society must ever be acknowledged entirely owing, resolved (at another meeting) to make a beginning with these articles; and as money would be wanting, each of them paid down £10, 10s., and £10, 10s. for Lord Shaftesbury, but subscribed £5, 5s. apiece only in the book, lest a larger sum might discourage others. At the same time some other gentlemen paid £2, 2s. each; but the number being small, the aforesaid noble lords declared that they would make good all deficiencies, and accordingly paid thirty guineas more.”

Viscount Folkestone was elected President, and was continued in the chair for life by annual re-election. He died on 17th February 1761, and was buried at Britford. His second wife survived as Dowager Viscountess Folkestone, till 25th September 1782.

By his first wife he had four daughters. The eldest, the Hon. Anne Bouverie, was married in 1761 to the Hon. and Rev. George Talbot, D.D., third son of Lord Chancellor Talbot. The second, Hon. Mary Bouverie, became, on 20th March 1759, the second wife of Anthony Ashley, fourth Earl of Shaftesbury; she was the mother of the fifth and sixth earls, and the grandmother of the able and estimable seventh earl, who was born on 28th April 1801, and died on 1st October 1885.  

William, eldest son of Jacob Des Bouverie (afterwards Sir Jacob Bouverie, third baronet), was born in 1725. Although England has always been proud of her merchant princes, yet no merchant was raised to higher rank than baronetcy till 1747, in which year Sir Jacob was raised to the peerage as Viscount Folkestone. His friend, Mr. Mark Stuart Pleydell, had been created a baronet on 19th June 1732. He had an only child and heiress, Harriot Pleydell. To this young lady the Hon. William Bouverie was married on 14th January 1748, with the prospect of adding to the family possessions her father’s estate of Coleshill in Berkshire. On 4th March 1750 an heir was born and named Jacob; but the young mother died on