Sir William Bowyer, 1st Baronet

{{Short description|English politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Sir William Bowyer, 1st Baronet

| image =

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1612|6|29|df=y}}

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| death_date = {{death date and age|1679|10|2|1612|6|29|df=y}}

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| occupation = Politician, nobleman and lawyer

| education = Jesus College, Cambridge

| nationality =

| movement =

| parents = Sir Henry Bower
Anne Salter

| spouse = Margaret Weld

| children = Three sons, including William Bowyer, and several daughters

}}

Sir William Bowyer, 1st Baronet (29 June 1612 – 2 October 1679), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1659 and 1679.

Bowyer was the eldest son of Sir Henry Bowyer and his wife Anne Salter, daughter of Sir Nicholas Salter,{{cite book |last=Burke |first=John |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire |publisher=Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley |location=London |volume=I |edition=4th |year=1832 |page=134 }} and was baptised at St Olave's Church, Hart Street, London. Sir Henry Bowyer died in December 1613, after rehearsals for The Somerset Masque.Barbara Ravelhofer, The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 75–76: Folkestone Williams & Thomas Birch, Court and Times of James the First, 1 (London: Colburn, 1848), p. 286.

He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge.{{acad|id=BWR628W|name=Bowyer, William}} In 1630, he was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn. Bowyer was High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire between 1646 and 1647 and a Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckinghamshire from 1659 until 1679.[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/bowyer-william-1612-79 History of Parliament Online – Bowyer, William] Having been a Royalist before the Restoration, he was knighted by June 1660, and afterwards made a Baronet, of Denham, in the County of Buckingham by King Charles II of England on 25 June 1660.{{cite book |last=Debrett |first=John |publisher= G. Woodfall |edition=fifth |title=Debrett's Baronetage of England |volume=I |year=1824 |location=London |pages=221–222 }}

On 29 May 1634, he married Margaret Weld, daughter of Sir John Weld, at St Olave's Church, Old Jewry, London. They had three sons and several daughters. Bowyer died intestate, aged 67, and was buried at Denham. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his oldest son William.{{cite book |last=Kimber |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Kimber |publisher=Thomas Wotton |editor=Richard Johnson |title=The Baronetage of England: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets |volume=II |year=1771 |location=London |page=41 }}