Hello Paul,
Many, Many , Many thanks for your letter. At last some wake-up by the Dulwich. Sir Francis was Swiss and not from an obscure Huguenot family. This is not the same. We are not french. It is time to upgrade Francis. He belongs to my mothers's family, Bourgeois, which is a noble family from Switzerland. I intended to have a biography on Francis but I still did not have time. Let's say that now with your cooperation I shall try to build up that very biography. For the moment I give you Isaac Emmanuel Bourgeois children: Elisabeth Bourgeois born 1768, dead in Grandson 12 mai 1784 Kity Bourgeois born in London Emannuel Bourgeois, married in England, had only daughters Rene Bourgeois Francis Bourgeois born in London where he died from falling from a horse the 11 mai 1811. George III King of England appointed him painter in the court. He bequeated his painting collection and 1200 pounds to the Dulwich college. Those are the official facts we know from the Bourgeois's genealogy 1450-2000, a noble family from Grandson, Giez, Yverdon, Corcelettes/Switzerland. Interesting is Emmanuel who had only daughters, this is Francis's brother. I could find a few certificates from that family but I still have the hope to find the living relatives from that family and theirs archives. We know so little from Francis. Anyway we shall see better when I start that biography. You have noted that everybody misread Francis's birth year. The real year is 1753, I have the birth certificate. Feel free to send everything you know about Francis and we build that bio.
S./Fribourg Joan would be so interested about some Dulwich news. Bye/S./BA/Fribourg

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 11:01:36 +0000 Objet: Re: Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois De: "Paul Matthews" À: "S."

Dear S.
Thank you very much for your email. Your information is very interesting, because we only knew that Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois had a sister. Am I correct in understanding from your email that Isaac Emmanuel Bourgeois was married twice and that from this first marriage with Elizabeth Gordon/Gardin (27 January 1753 at Saint George Mayfair, Westminster, London, England) he had two children, Peter Francis Bourgeois and Kitty Bourgeois? Presumably after his return to Switzerland he remarried and had the three other children that you mention ie. Elisabeth Bourgeois (b. 1768, d. Grandson 12 May 1784), Emannuel Bourgeois, and Rene Bourgeois. I am particularly intrigued that Emannuel married in England, as we have no evidence of contact between him and Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois. Would it be possible to obtain photocopies of the documentary evidence you have collected? (Particularly Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois’ birth certificate, which we have not yet located.)
Many thanks Paul Matthews

Tue, 4 Mar 2003 04:37:56 +0100 (CET) " Objet: Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois À: "Paul Matthews"

Hello Paul,
No hurry, we cannot expect to get the full bakground fo Francis's life in two e-mails. The Bourgeois's genealogy 1450-2000, which copy is at the Swiss National Library Berne, is accurate, serious and recommended. This is because they were fed up that others would be Bourgeois pretended to belong to our family, and it happens again with the Canadian and US Bourgeois, they do not know were they comes from. (but not from us) This means that Isaac married once, check: http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/bourgeois/francisbourgeois.html You can note that everything is accurate, OK Elisabeth is 1768 from the Bourgeois genealogy and 1767 from the birth certifiacate. This is because they did not have the Net and had to writte from memory. The Emmanuel could well belong to us, the dates, the birth of his two daughters coincide with Emmanuel presumed birth. For the Rene Bourgeois I could presume that he was a dead born but his is a personnal assumption. Interesting too is that Isaac Emmanuel's sister married Turner from England, this means that they had an english connection. I will fill up that page slowly. Yes everything has a document which can be sent but do not ask eveything at the samed time. From your side could you check the newspaper, 1811 maybe he had an obituary ? Do you have birth, marriages, dead register in England ? I presume that at the London library some interesting documents could be found ? I have for instance an interesting very big press release on Francis but it is in polish, maybe you can translate ? I presume that I should not ask too much, there are many many evidences to be found in our fascinating Francis B. Bye/S./Buenos Aires/Fribourg NB: by the way it would be very interesting to locate and record Francis's paintings, we have one in our family but I presume that he painted a few hundreds in his life ?

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 13:18:20 +0000 Objet: Re: Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois De: "Paul Matthews"

Dear S.
Thank you for your email, I found your website very informative. You write that Isaac married only once, but the reason given by Francis Bourgeois for Noel Desenfans fostering him was the death of his mother when he was about 10 years of age. He told Farrington that this was the reason why Isaac left England, leaving Francis behind. Given that Isaac Bourgeois and Elizabeth Gordon/Gardin/Gardner were married 27 June 1753, this would suggest that Elizabeth died around 1763. If this were true then it would seem unlikely that Elizabeth Bourgeois (b. Grandson, 1768-d. Grandson, 1784) is a daughter of Elizabeth Gordon/Gardin/Gardner. Furthermore, in a letter from around 1763 Isaac asks Desenfans to also foster the girl, a request that was refused. (Presumably this was either Kitty or Catherine.) In his will Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois only leaves a single bequest to his family, to an unnamed sister, presumably the one taken to Switzerland by Isaac Bourgeois. This would suggest that perhaps Francis only had one full sister, that Isaac married twice, and that Rene and Emmanuel may have been his half-brothers. I think you would find very interesting an article by Giles Waterfield, ‘”That White-Faced Man”: Sir Francis Bourgeois 1756-1811’, Turner Society, 9, 1989, pp. 36-48. (Although I am beginning to think there are quite a few errors about Bourgeois’ early life.) If you have trouble obtaining a copy please let me know. I’m afraid I can’t help you with Polish, but perhaps the text is related to a big loan we did to Warsaw castle some years ago. You asked about pictures by Sir Francis – we have 24 paintings by him, and there are also other examples in the British Royal Collection, the Sir John Soane Museum in London, and elsewhere. What is the subject of the painting by him in your family collection?
Regards
Paul Matthews

Sat, 8 Mar 2003 07:45:03 +0100 (CET) Objet: Sir Francis Bourgeois À: "Paul Matthews"

Hello Paul,
Interesting your letter. This is History, you have facts that do not seem to fit in. We must take every clue and see it again. What are the evidences ? This is that Isaac married once with Elizabeth Garden probably Gordon a misunderstanding. Everything else is presumed but we can have Elizabeth Bourgeois-Gordon death date in 1767/8, this is new. Of course there is a lot to discover because we do not seem to have some Francis's archives or letters. However I have evidence of some Bourgeois living in England by the 19th century. I wish to have copies of Francis's letters, will, That White Faced Man article, and the listing of Francis's paintings. The Francis's painting in the Bourgeois family is a nature with a car, I mean a 18th century car. The polish press release is about one of your visitor inquiryng about Francis, like you, having some doubts and looking for some light. I linked one of his many letter on Francis's page: http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/bourgeois/francisbourgeois.html The fact on the Bourgeois trustworthy is arised every century since 1500. Every time the Bourgeois win, because they are accurate, clever, they belong to the best of Switzerland. The state sued them for not being noble and thus having to pay some taxes which the nobles were free. They won, they were certified noble and twice in two centuries. Just a few years ago there was a press release about Guillaume Bourgeois dead 1508 a priest for being a crook, signed by an important historian. He did not even look at the Bourgeois's genealogy which mentions that he was forgiven by the Pope and thus could not have been that bad. On the history of Canton de Vaud by Verdeil he mentions a JJ Bourgeois who was presumed being from Yverdon, this is our, or Neuchatel this is not ours, and was tryed and decapitated for plotting and conspirating. I still could not find any evidence of this JJ Bourgeois belonging to our family. Francis is only one of theirs many very famous. There are many oil portraits from the Bourgeois family, but this is another story. Well this is to tell you that if the Bourgeois's genealogy gives as Isaac and Elizabeth Garden the childs I mention it is because it is true. No hurry Paul we investigate.
S./Buenos Aires/Fribourg

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 03:51:52 +0100 (CET) Objet: Sir Francis Bourgeois À: "Paul Matthews"

the reason given by Francis Bourgeois for Noel Desenfans fostering him was the death of his mother when he was about 10 years of age = one should read in his teens
Hello again Paul,
I modified Francis B. web page address: http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/photographie/ this one has room for many pieces of archives. I intended to visit the Dulwich for years but now I can think about it twice. (and phoptograph Francis's paintings, archives and so on). You are welcomed.
S./Fribourg

Wed, 19 Mar 2003 17:42:14 +0000 Objet: New document De: "Paul Matthews"

Dear S.
I'm sorry to have taken so long to reply to your last email but I have been on leave. Attached you will find scans of a document in the Dulwich College archive of a letter sent to Francis Bourgeois from his cousin Th. Bourgeois ('Th.=Theophile? Theodor?). This will be of interest to you as the writer mentions that he has a living sister, Kitty, in Switzerland who he wishes to join. Furthermore, he also notes he has two sisters who are dead, one of whom is called Therese. It therefore seems that Sir Francis did not have sisters called Kitty and Therese as has previously seemed the case. Your comments would be most welcome. Finally, what is your postal address so I can send you this article on Sir Francis?
Yours sincerely
Paul Matthews
-- Project Co-Ordinator Scholarly Catalogue Project Dulwich Picture Gallery Gallery Rd London SE21 7AD UK Tel: +44 (0)1223 874 336 Fax: +1 815-550 8852

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 19:00:21 +0100 (CET) Objet: Francis À: "Paul Matthews"

Helo Paul,
I had a look at but was confused. I only could read one scann and I understood your letter by 1/4. Therese is Francis father's sister. Who is Th, he has many cousins, this could be found. of course send only photocopies as I can be stolen from the postal service. So I wish to beginn to record Francis's paintings, let's start by the first ones and next mail you give the next ones. This is because I suspect that we can find more with the Net and the search engine. http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/photographie/ S./Zurich/Fribourg

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 21:16:43 +0100 (CET) Objet: F.B. À: "Paul Matthews"

Hello again Paul,
I was thinking about your letter. Of course history about 3 centuries ago requires a bit of memory brush up. At first glance there is no Th. (I mean thre are more to check) but could it be Ch. than it is Charles his cousin. I could not open the first letter thus cannot understand the full meaning of the matter. Are there dates ? Send the letter again. Checking the Genealogical tree they mention that Rene was not married, thus he should have been a full living person, this is new. I include a tree made by my uncle, Pierre Bourgeois. Interesting is that we have English relatives from a Francis's niece who was living in Liverpool, died 1914, and had many daughters, marrying into Rathone, Lace, Ashby, Topham, big names... I join that tree on the FB web page as soon as possible. I have recorded the first FB painting, FB is awaiting for the full list... S./Zurich/Fribourg