Nathaniel George Philips Bousfield (1829 – 21 May 1883) was a

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

cotton merchant, a leading Volunteer officer, and a Conservative Party politician.

Volunteer Force

Bousfield was an enthusiast for the

Volunteer movement The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrate ...

. He and 20 fellow gentlemen offered to form a corps in 1852, but this was declined. He founded the Liverpool Drill Club in 1855 with men from the cotton trade, who drilled twice weekly in his warehouse. A further offer to form a volunteer corps was declined in 1857, despite the support of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Duncan MacDougall of the

Royal Lancashire Militia Artillery The Royal Lancashire Militia Artillery was a part-time reserve unit of Britain's Royal Artillery based in Lancashire from 1853 to 1909. Background The long-standing national Militia of the United Kingdom was revived by the Militia Act 1852, ena ...

. However, during the invasion scare of 1859 a public meeting in London led to calls for national Volunteer Force, and Bousfield and MacDougall renewed their offer. When the government gave in to the pressure, Bousfield's commission as

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

-Commandant of the 1st Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps, dated 11 June 1859, was the first to be issued in the new force. He later served as

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

when the corps expanded to a full battalion.

Political career

Bousfield was a Member of Parliament (MP) for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

from 31 January 1874 to 1880.

Personal life

Nathaniel was married to Catherine ''Barratt'' Bousfield. She died 24 August 1884 at age 54.Catherine ''Barratt'' Bousfield
Lass, Lancashire. �
Nathaniel George Philips Bousfield (1829-1883) -...” Find A Grave, 4 Sept. 2014, nl.findagrave.com/memorial/135401170/nathaniel-george_philips-bousfield.

Notes

References

* Ian F.W. Beckett, ''Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908'', Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, . * Edward M. Spiers, ''The Army and Society 1815–1914'', London: Longmans, 1980, . * Ray Westlake, ''Tracing the Rifle Volunteers'', Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, .

External links

* 1829 births 1883 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1874–1880 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1820s-stub