BOSCAWEN, William Augustus Spencer (1750-1828), of Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, Mdx.

Col. Boscawen was again returned in 1790 on the interest of his first cousin George, 3rd Viscount Falmouth, who in 1787 and 1789 had applied to Pitt to have him made aide-de-camp to the King, and in 1788 for him to succeed to the government of Fort George and Fort Augustus.PRO 30/8/114, ff. 204, 212; 134, ff. 34, 40, 42, 46. Nothing came of these applications or of his own and in 1790 he retired from the army. On 10 Jan. he had written to Pitt, requesting a place in the Mint as a reward for his parliamentary support.PRO 30/8/114, f. 206. Having, as before, given a silent support to government, and been listed hostile to the repeal of the Test Act in Scotland in April 1791, he was found a place early in 1792, as a salt tax commissioner at £500 p.a., by an arrangement whereby he gave up his seat. On the death of Hugh Boscawen in September 1795, Lord Falmouth wrote to Pitt asking for his cousin to succeed him as knight marshal of the Household, explaining that the promised salary of £500 p.a. had simply not materialized and that this new appointment would remedy the situation; but Boscawen remained a salt commissioner only.PRO 30/8/134, f. 72. In April 1796 he had an unseemly wrangle in the newspaper with John Monkton Hale, a borough monger, whom he accused of assuming the name of Boscawen for his own purposes in advertising his services.True Briton, 2, 4, 6, 9 Apr. 1796. He died 13 June 1828.