BOUCHER, bow'cher, Jonathan, English clergyman: b. Blenoog, 12 March 1738; d. Ep som, 27 April 1804. He came to America about 1754 as pnvate tutor in a Virginia family. He continued teaching and tutoring for several years, during which time he counted among his pupils the stepson of George Washington. He returned to England, where he received Episcopal ordination in 1772. He came back to America and had charge of several eccle siastical parishes in Virginia, Maryland and Carolina. He was on intimate terms with many of the prominent leaders of the colonies, among them being Washington, with whom he often dined and discussed the affairs of the country. Boucher's loyalty to the English Crown was uncompromising, and when the Revolutionary War broke out he denounced from the pulpit the revolutionary doctrines then popular in the colonies. So strong was the popular sentiment against him that he preached his last sermon with pistols on his pulpit cushion. He broke with Washington and his other American friends, and finally he was forced to resign his parish and return in 1785 to England, where he found himself as popular as he had been unpopular in America. His loyalty to the
Crown was rewarded with a government pen sion and the vicarship of Epsom, Surrey, which he retained till his death. Boucher was con sidered one of the best preachers and orators of his time both in England and the colonies. Under the title