(1717 - 84) of Gunthwaite and Thorpe, Yorks; s. of William Bosville; St John's Camb. 1735; I.Temple 1737; m. 1739 Diana Wentworth (1722 - 95), e. dau. of Sir William Wentworth of Bretton.
1743 Genoa, Florence (Jun. - Aug.), Genoa (Aug. - Sep.)
Although his wife Diana was set on visiting Turin,1 Godfrey Bosville sailed in a man-of-war from France to Genoa, and they moved on quickly to Florence. 'A strange husband, Mr Bosville, and his wife who', thought Horace Mann, 'is come to Florence for the same reason that other unfruitful ladies go to Bath'.2 By July Mann was finding Mrs Bosville an outright embarrassment. She had taken as her lover a ship's purser, one Prole, with whom she performed in a church 'and all over the town in the face of everybody by moonlight' (242, 251, 263 - 4). Yet Mann invited the Bosvilles and Prole 'to trot in his orange groves', and eventually came to pity her, 'for at last it has been discovered that her mate was incapable, besides being the greatest fool in the world' (35:41; 18:275, 286, 309). Bosville was known as 'poor Nykin' behind his back, a sot and a cuckold (18:263 - 4); 'I know nothing of him but that he has [the] meanest look and is one of the greatest fools I ever saw', wrote Mann (18:242). He was considered to have mishandled his wife's affair, on one occasion encouraging her to leave Florence 'and keep poor Prole company, that he could not go for ten days because he had letters to write' (286). In September Mann wrote that Bosville was said to be preparing to join Monsieur de Traun's army, 'to try to get a reputation'; he had 'set out for England to sue for a divorce, unless he repents by the way'; Diana had persuaded her husband to release her with an allowance, and an article had appeared absolving Bosville from the responsibility for any children Diana might bear; she meanwhile was said to be in Genoa, 'waiting for the return of her seaman' (309).
The Bosvilles were later reconciled; the eldest of their four children was born in 1745 and the paternity was not contested.
1. Montagu Letters, 2:303, 305. 2. Wal.Corr., 18:238; subsequent refs. in brackets.