Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath

Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath
Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath, portrait c. 1638–1643, private collection.
Born	1587
Died	August 16, 1654(1654-08-16) Tawstock
Spouse(s)	Rachael Fane
Parent(s)	Sir George Bourchier Eleanor Manners

Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath (1587 – 16 August 1654) of in Devon, was an English peer who held the office of Lord Privy Seal and was a large landowner in Ireland in counties Limerick and Armagh, and in England in Devon, Somerset and elsewhere. Following his inheritance of the Earldom of Bath from his distant cousin, in 1637 he moved from his native Ireland to Tawstock Court in Devon, a county previously unknown to him where he knew few people. As the most senior resident nobleman in the county he was destined to play the leading role for the Royalist cause in Devon during the Civil War but before the outbreak of hostilities he was captured in 1642 and imprisoned by the Parliamentarians before he had organised his local forces. In the opinion of Clarendon (d. 1674) he was a man of "sour-tempered unsocial behaviour" who "had no excellent or graceful pronunciation" and "neither had or ever meant to do the king the least service".

Henry Bourchier was born in 1587, probably in Ireland, where he lived during his childhood. He was the fifth son of Sir George Bourchier (d. 1605), an English soldier who settled in Ireland, the 3rd son of John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath (1499–1561) of Tawstock, Devon, by his 2nd wife Eleanor Manners, daughter of George Manners, 11th Baron de Ros. Henry's mother was Martha Howard (c. 1555–1598), daughter of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. Thus his uncle was Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral.

Henry entered Trinity College Dublin, which his father had helped to found in about 1597. He received the degree of BA in 1605, was elected the 21st Fellow of the college in 1606 and received his MA in 1610. He was one of only eight in the first thirty years of the college's existence who remained a layman.