William Bonaparte-Wyse

Who was William Bonaparte-Wyse?

Captain William Charles Bonaparte-Wyse 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 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 and they had four sons. He was the father of Permanent Secretary Andrew Nicholas Bonaparte-Wyse.

He died, aged 66, in 1892, at Cannes, and is buried there in the Cimetière du Grand Jas.