BOSCAWEN, Charles (1627-89), of Nancealverne, Cornw.

Charles Boscawen was a younger brother of Hugh Boscawen of Tregothnan, and his career was overshadowed by his more accomplished sibling. He entered the Inner Temple in 1647 but did not practise law, instead returning to Cornwall, where he was appointed to local commissions during the interregnum, including those for assessment in December 1652 and June 1657.10I. Temple database; A. and O. He was also returned as one of the MPs for Cornwall in 1654, although nothing is known of his activity in that Parliament. It is possible that in both local and national affairs, Charles Boscawen was deputising for his elder brother, who remained aloof from protectoral politics until 1659. During this period Boscawen was apparently close to another disillusioned parliamentarian family, the Bullers of Shillingham, and he acted as one of the parties in a lease by Francis Buller I* of the manor of Ruan to Edward Nosworthy in March 1658.11Cornw. RO, G/239/1-3. It was no doubt with his brother’s support that Boscawen was elected for Truro in January 1659, although it is most likely that the references to ‘Mr Boscawen’ in the Journal refer to Hugh, not Charles. With the failure of the protectorate in May, Hugh Boscawen again withdrew from politics, leaving his brother to represent the family in local affairs.

In July 1659 Charles was appointed to the Cornish militia commission, and in August Richard Lobb* even suggested him as a suitable commander for one of the militia companies of the county.12A. and O.; FSL, X.d.483(127). The instability that followed the army’s coup in the autumn of 1659 was of grave concern to the Boscawens, and in December Charles joined Hugh at the meeting of the gentry at Truro in late December, and both brothers signed the declaration for a ‘free Parliament’ drawn up on 27th of that month.13Publick Intelligencer no. 210 (2-9 Jan. 1660), 998 (E.773.41). Charles Boscawen was appointed to the assessment commission of January 1660 and the following March he was named to the militia commission and was made a justice of the peace.14A. and O. He was not elected to Parliament in April 1660, however, and thereafter he apparently took no part in politics until the Glorious Revolution, when he was returned for the family borough of Tregony. In 1685 Boscawen was made one of the beneficiaries of the will of his brother, Edward, receiving various properties on the understanding that if he died without heirs they would pass to Edward’s daughters.15PROB11/383/130. Presumably the terms of this arrangement were respected when Boscawen died, unmarried, in the spring of 1689.16HP Commons 1660-1690.