The Bourchier Family

Miles Bowker always claimed to be a direct descend on the Bourchier family, the Ancient Earls of Essex and Eu.

An extract from 'The Bowkers of Tharfield' by Ivan Mitford-Barberton:
In the Gentleman's Magazine, dated June 1759, there appeared a brief article about the ancient family of Bourchier, Earls of Eu and Essex, and a crude woodcut showing the Bourchier arms and crest.
'On day, when I was reading in it', wrote  Miles Bowker in his memoirs, 'my father happened to overlook it, and just observed that the families spoken of there were our ancestry and that was our name, and this was the only time I ever heard him speak of his family, which he considered had treated him very ill.'
Miles goes on to say:
'I hold the ancient silver seals of this family [the Bourchiers] (my great grandfather being the lineal heir, collaterally of the Earldom of Essex, then in abeyance, as well as the heir male to the family of Bernres, now gone to a Colonel Wilson) sent to my father after the death of his two uncles, as the head of the family.

I have researched this Gentleman's Magazine and can find no reference to the Bourchier family, perhaps Miles Bowker remembered the date incorrectly.  I am at present trying to find out which magazine he was referring to.

Another extract from 'The Bowker of Tharfield' by Ivan Mitford-Barberton:
But the Bowkers have always claimed to belong to the illustrious family of Norman descent, one of whom, we believe, was a Count Bourchier Buried in Battle Abbey.  The arms of this family seem to date from one of the Crusades and are very ancient.  Those borne by the first Earl of Eu and by all his descendants are those used by the Bowkers today, viz. Argent, a cross engrailed gules, between four water bougets sable.  The crest or Bourchier knot (also described as a badge) was of later date.  It is engraved on the tomb of Archbishop  Bourchier in Canterbury Cathedral, and it was also use by his brother Lord Berners in the  reign of Edward IV (1461-83).

The Bourchier Family Crest

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