Captain William Charles Bonaparte-Wyse (20 January 1826 – 3 December 1892) was an Irish soldier and poet.
William Charles Bonaparte-Wyse was born in Waterford, the son of the politician and educational reformer Sir Thomas Wyse, and Laetitia, daughter of Lucien Bonaparte. Nicknamed lo felibre irlandés, he wrote in Provençal, was a friend of Frédéric Mistral, and became the only foreign member of the consistory of the Félibrige, the Provençal cultural association. His collection Li Parpaioun Blu (The Blue Butterflies) was published in 1868, with a foreword by Mistral. He created the Provençal dish of dried figs poached in whiskey.
Bonaparte-Wyse was appointed High Sheriff of County Waterford for 1855. He was commissioned Captain in the 9th Wiltshire Rifle Volunteer Corps in July 1866. He also served in the Waterford Artillery.
He married in 1864, at London, Ellen Linzee Prout (1842-1925) and they had four sons. He was the father of Permanent Secretary Andrew Nicholas Bonaparte-Wyse (1870-1940).
He died in 1892, at Cannes, and is buried there in the Cimetière du Grand Jas.
Famous quotes containing the word william:
“When Wellington thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well:”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)