Bourgeois owed his knighthood to Stanislaus, king of Poland, who in 1791 appointed him his painter and conferred on him the honour of a knight of the order of Merit, and his title was confirmed by George III. Although he appears to have been successful as a painter, he owed much of his good fortune to Joseph Desenfans, a picture-dealer, who was employed by Stanislaus to collect works of art, which ultimately remained on his hands. Bourgeois, who lived with Desenfans, assisted him in his purchases, and at his death inherited what, with some pictures added by himself, is now known as the Dulwich Gallery [College]. He died from a fall from his horse on 8 Jan. 1811, and was buried in the chapel of Dulwich College. He bequeathed 371 pictures to Dulwich College, with 10,000l. to provide for the maintenance of the collection, and 2,000l. to repair and beautify the west wing and gallery of the college. The members of the college, however, determined to erect a new gallery, and they and Mrs. Desenfans contributed 6,000l. apiece for this purpose, and employed Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Soane as the architect of the present buildings, which were commenced in the year of the death of Bourgeois, and include a mausoleum for his remains and those of Mr. and Mrs. Desenfans.
Although Bourgeois generally painted landscapes, he attempted history and portrait. Amongst his pictures were 'Hunting a Tiger,' Mr. Kemble as 'Coriolanus,' and 'A Detachment of Horse, costume of Charles I.' Twenty-two of his own works were included in his bequest to Dulwich College, where, besides landscapes, may now be seen 'A Friar kneeling before a Cross,' 'Tobit and the Angel,' and a portrait of himself. Though an artist of taste and versatility, his works fail to sustain the reputation which they earned for him when alive.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists, 1878; Bryan's Dict. (Graves); Annals of the Fine Arts, 1818; Warner's Cat. Dulwich Coll. MSS.]
BOURKE, Sir RICHARD (1777–1855), colonial governor, was the only son of John Bourke of Dromsally, a relation of Edmund Burke, and was born in Dublin on 4 May 1777. He was originally educated for the bar, and was more than twenty-one when he was gazetted an ensign in the 1st or Grenadier guards on 22 Nov. 1798. He served in the expedition to the Helder, when he was shot through the jaws at the battle of Bergen, and was promoted lieutenant and captain on 25 Nov. 1799. As quartermaster-general he served with Auchmuty's force at Monte Video, and on the conclusion of the campaign was put on half-pay. In 1808 he was posted to the staff of the army in Portugal as assistant quartermaster-general, and on account of his knowledge of Spanish was sent by Sir Arthur Wellesley to the headquarters of Don Gregorio Cuesta, the commander-in-chief of the Spanish army. From 30 May to 28 June 1809 he fulfilled his difficult mission to Wellesley's entire satisfaction, and then for some unexplained reason resigned his post on the staff and returned to England. He was again sent, on account of his knowledge of Spanish, on a detached mission to Galicia in 1812. He was gazetted an assistant quartermaster-general, and stationed at Corunna, whence he sent up provisions and ammunition to the front, and acted in general as military resident in Galicia. At the conclusion of the war he was promoted colonel and made a C.B. He was promoted major-general in 1821, and was lieutenant-governor of the eastern district of the Cape of Good Hope from 1825 to 1828, when he returned to England. In 1829 he edited, with Lord Fitzwilliam, the ‘Correspondence’ of Edmund Burke, whom he had often visited at Beaconsfield in his own younger days. In 1831 he was appointed governor of New South Wales in succession to General Darling.
When Bourke arrived he found the colony divided into two parties. The emancipists, or freed convicts, had been encouraged by General Macquarie to believe that the colony existed for them alone; while, on the other hand, Brisbane and Darling had been entirely governed by the wealthy emigrants and poor adventurers, and given all power to the party of the exclusivists or pure merinos. General Darling had behaved injudiciously, and had got into much trouble. Bourke at once took up a position of absolute impartiality to both parties. He freed the press at once from all restrictions; and though himself foully abused, he would not use his position to interfere. Still more important was his encouragement of emigration. Under his influence a regular scheme of emigration was established, evidence was taken in Australia and issued in England by the first Emigration Society, which was established in London in 1833, and means were provided for bringing over emigrants by selling the land in the colony at a minimum price. He succeeded in carrying what is known as Sir Richard Bourke's Church Act. Bourke's impartiality made him popular, and he became still more so by his travels throughout the inhabited part of his vice-kingdom. He was made a K.C.B. in 1835. He resigned his governorship on 6 Dec. 1837, after six years of office, on being reprimanded
