of 1761 brought controversy, as the Tories had put for-
ward a candidate of their own that year. In late 1760,
he was asked to withdraw his candidacy, but he refused.
However, the matter was settled when Boscawen caught
a fever his men had suffered from during the attack on
Lagos and afterward. He died at his home at the Hatch-
lands, near Guildford, on 10 January 1761 at the age
of 49, and he was buried at the church of St. Michael
Penkevil in Cornwall.
Boscawen’s death cost his nation a brilliant naval
officer. His actions at Cape Finesterre and Lagos, among
others, had led some to claim that he was one of En-
gland’s five greatest naval commanders, ranking him with
Howe and perhaps even Horatio nelson. One historian
wrote: “There is no exaggeration in the statement on his
monument that ‘with the highest exertions of military
greatness he united the gentlest offices of humanity; his
concern for the interest, and wearied attention to the
health, of all under his command, softened the necessary
exactions of duty and rigours of discipline.’ ” Boscawen’s
daughter Elizabeth married Henry Somerset, fifth duke
of Beaufort, and their son, FitzRoy James Henry Som-
erset, also known as Baron raglan, served as the com-
mander of British forces in the Crimea during the war
there in the 1850s.
References: “Boscawen, Edward,” in The Dictionary of
National Biography, 22 vols., 8 supps., edited by Sir Les-
lie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee, et al. (London: Oxford
University Press, 1921–22), II:877–881; Charnock, John,
“Boscawen, Edward,” in Biographia Navalis; or, Impar-
tial Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of Officers of the
Navy of Great Britain... , 4 vols. (London: Printed for
R. Faulder, Bond-Street 1794–98), IV:310; letter from
Vernon, in The Vernon Papers, edited by Bryan McLean
Ranft (London: Publications of the Navy Records Soci-
ety, 1958), 195–196; Richmond, H. W., The Navy in the
War of 1739–48, 3 vols. (Cambridge, U.K.: The Univer-
sity Press, 1920), III:92; Kemp, Peter K., ed., “Boscawen’s
Letters to His Wife, 1755–1756,” in The Naval Miscel-
lany, 4 vols., edited by Christopher Lloyd (London: Navy
Records Society, 1952), IV:229.
Boudicca (Boudica, Boadicea, Bonduca) (ca.
a.d. 30–62) British warrior queen
Boudicca was, according to legend, the daughter of a
minor chief of the Iceni, a British tribe occupying the
area now known as the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.
In a.d. 48, she became the wife of Prasutagus, king of
the Iceni, and had two daughters by him. Prasutagus had
submitted when the Romans invaded in a.d. 43 and
ruled as a vassal-king under Roman control. When he
died in a.d. 60, his will left half his personal wealth to
the Roman emperor and the remainder to his wife and
daughters. The Roman authorities in Britain annexed
Prasutagus’s kingdom, disputed the will, and claimed
all Prasutagus’s wealth. When Boudicca protested, they
arrested her and her daughters. According to some ac-
counts, she was whipped and her daughters were rav-
ished before being released. Whatever the truth of the
matter, the insult to their queen triggered a revolt among
the Iceni, who were already embittered by their land
being taken and given to ex-Roman soldiers, a common
practice in the Roman colonies. (The bestowing of land
rewarded legionaries who had completed their military
service, created Roman settlements in the colony, and
provided a ready source of veterans to help in putting
down rebellion if necessary.)
The Iceni were soon joined by the Trinobantes,
and Boudicca led her army across the southeast of En-
gland, quickly overcoming the small Roman garrisons
nearby and capturing and destroying the Roman settle-
ments at Camulodunum (Colchester); Verulamium (St.
Albans); and Londinium (London), where the ashes of
the fire with which she destroyed the city are still to be
seen when foundations are dug for new office buildings.
A large Roman force, comprising much of the Ninth
Legion from Lincoln, was routed and every Roman sym-
pathizer was slaughtered, but the return of the Roman
governor Suetonius Paulinus from North Wales with the
Twentieth Legion saw an end to Boudicca’s campaign
in a.d. 62. In a battle in the Midlands, now believed to
be near today’s Coventry, Paulinus positioned his force
with a wood at his back and his cavalry on a hillside on
either side. Boudicca’s force had no plan of attack and
rushed forward, relying on their numbers to overwhelm
the legionaries in front of them. The steadiness of the
legionaries first held and then repulsed the disorganized
Britons, who at last turned and ran; thousands were cut
to pieces by the Roman cavalry as they fled. Boudicca
escaped, but, knowing her cause was now hopeless, she
took poison rather than risk capture. It was long believed
that her body was buried on the site now occupied by
King’s Cross Station in London, but historians now
think it more likely she lies somewhere near the battle-bouDiccA