[1][2] As a result of the later deaths of his two elder brothers, Everard and Charles, without issue, the Bouverie inheritance passed through his line.
Bouverie married Elizabeth Sheil of Castledawson, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on 20 November 1826.
After about a year, having been promoted to the rank of captain, Francis sold his commission and settled with his wife back at Castledawson.
In 1832 Elizabeth gave birth to a still-born daughter, and then in 1835 a Mr Bell persuaded her to accompany him for a ten- or twelve-day tour to Liverpool, giving rise to claim that Francis was not the father of her son James Augustus Sheil Bouverie, born the following year on 12 July 1836.
A year after his son’s birth, on 19 September 1837, Francis Bouverie died and it seems that contact was lost between his family at Delapré Abbey and Castledawson.