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builds, lives in, or perhaps serves in a bower. If
the former, "builder" is possibly the nearest equivalent and
the name becomes cognate with Bowerman and probably Boorman.
The S.A.C. article quoted above also gives the following:
Ricardus atte Boure was M.P. for
Horsham borough 1320 and
was perhaps ancestor of the Borers who
were so early settled
in that neighbourhood. Temp. Edward III
Robert atte Boure
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occurs in a Subsidy Roll for the Hundred of Framfield, and
William atte Boure and John atte Boure
for the Hundred of
Hartfield ......... John Bourer and Alice
his wife in 1383 founded
a Chantry, which was formerly at the end of the
north aisle of
the church of Pagham, in the rape of
Chichester.
Bowrah, in many Sussex parish registers, is, or
was, the
synonym for Borer.
CECIL A. V. BOWRA
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AN interesting document which lately came into my
possession, and is now in the library of the Kent Archæological Society,
is the Free Pardon granted to William Courtenay in 1837 by Queen Victoria.
It must be one of the earliest documents signed by the Queen, as it is
dated a little over three months after her accession, and the seal used is
that of her predecessor, William IV. It reads:—
"Victoria R. Whereas William Courtenay was at the Summer
Assizes 1833 holden in and for the County of Kent convicted of Perjury,
and sentenced to be Imprisoned Three Months and then Transported seven
years for the same we in consideration of some circumstances humbly
represented unto us are Graciously pleased to Extend our Grace and Mercy
unto him, and to Grant him Our Free Pardon for his said crime.
Our Will and Pleasure Therefore is that you cause him the
said William Courtenay to be forthwith discharged out of
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Custody, and for doing so this shall be your Warrant.
Given at our Court at St. James's the third day of October 1837 in the
First year of our Reign.
By Her Majesty's Command, J. Russell.
To our trusty and well-beloved The Superintendent of the
Lunatic Asylum for the County of Kent, and all others whom it may
concern."
This document recalls a curious incident in Kentish History,
when in 1832, an eccentric person known in London by the name of Thompson
was staying at the Rose Inn at Canterbury as "Count Rothschild."
This name he afterwards changed to "Sir William Honeywood Courtenay,
Knight of Malta," and later, when he appeared as a candidate for the
first election under the Reform Bill, "Lord Viscount William
Courtenay of Powderham." He was really John Nichols Thom, the son of
a Cornish publican, and was on the verge of
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