Sir William Courtenay, 2nd Baronet

Sir William Courtenay, 2nd Baronet (11 March 1676 – 6 October 1735) of Powderham, Devon, was an English landowner and a leading member of the Devonshire gentry.

He was the son of Col. Francis Courtenay (d.1699) (who predeceased his own father Sir William Courtenay, 1st Baronet), MP for Devonshire 1689-99, by his wife Mary Boevey, daughter of William Boevey (d.1661), of Netherlandish Huguenot descent, of Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire. Mary's brother was John Boevey (d.1706) who refers to himself in his will dated 6 March 1703 as "John Boevey of Powderham Castle". He directed his body to be buried in the north aisle of Powderham Church "near the monument there erected". He further derired "my executor (who was his nephew William Courtenay (d.1735) of Powderham)...to bestow and lay out the summe of fifty pounds in erecting a monument near the place of interrment in such manner as my executor shall think fit". No such monument survives. He left £10 each to his nieces Elizabeth, Mary, Lucy and Isabella Courtenay for mourning clothes. He also bequeathed them each the sum of £30 to buy a diamond ring each to be worn in his memory. He bequeathed to Sir William Courtenay his nephew the sum of £100 and also made him his residuary beneficiary.

He succeeded his grandfather in the baronetcy in 1702. He represented Devonshire in the House of Commons from 1701 to 1710 and was Lord Lieutenant of Devon from 1714 to 1716.

He married Lady Anne Bertie, daughter of James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon, and their children included:

In 1831 he was recognised as having been de jure 6th Earl of Devon.

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