James Boevey

James Boevey (1622–1696) (pronounced "Boovey") was an English merchant, lawyer and philosopher of Huguenot parentage.

He was born in London at 6 a.m. on 7 May 1622 in Mincing Lane, in the parish of St. Dunstan-in-the-East. He was the youngest son of Andreas Boevey (c. 1566–1625) by his second wife Joanna der Wilde (d.1644), daughter of Peter der Wilde. Andreas Boevey was a Dutch Huguenot from Courtrai in Flanders who had been brought to England aged 7 by his Huguenot parents following the invasion of the Low Countries by the Duke of Alva and the Duke's subsequent persecutions. Andreas had nine children by his first wife Esther Fenn and two by his second wife, the eldest of whom was James. James's mother remarried in 1628 Johannes van Abeele, a widower and member of the Dutch emigree community in Norwich

He was educated at the Mercers' School in London, where his tutor was Mr Augur. In 1631 he went to the Netherlands to complete his schooling in Latin and Greek. In 1636 he embarked on a "grand tour" of Europe to perfect his cultural education.

Boevey started his career working for the Dutch-born financier Sir William Courten (d.1636), discoverer of Barbados. Boeve married in 1638 Susanna Dwyer, the niece of John Money, Courten's business partner in the great firm of silk and linen merchants Courten and Money. He then worked as cashier for the banker Dierik Hoste, and also for the Spanish Ambassador in London.

During the Commonwealth whilst King Charles II was in exile on the continent, James Boevey was described in a petition later made by his son-in-law Captain William Hinton as: "Mr James Boeve of Middleburg in Zeeland... the person through whom most of the King's business passed during his exile, a duty which he fulfilled with integrity and with expense even to ruin. Yet he never asked reward, and declared that he would be satisfied if his son-in-law obtained the Government of Newfoundland". Hinton was later appointed Governor of Newfoundland.

The following record dated 29 June 1672 from the Calendar of Treasury Books explains the circumstances of Boevey's jail sentence in Zealand:

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