Lord Folkestone was born Jacob des Bouverie and baptised on 14 October 1694 in St Katharine Cree, London, the son of Sir William des Bouverie, 1st Baronet and his second wife Anne Urry (daughter and heiress of David Urry of London).

[3][4] He was created Viscount Folkestone and Baron Longford on 29 June 1747 and was appointed one of the deputy lieutenants of Wiltshire on 8 November 1750.

[3] He married, firstly, Mary Clarke on 31 January 1724 in St Paul's Cathedral, London;[4] she was the daughter of Bartholomew Clarke, merchant of Hardingstone and Mary (née Young), sister and sole heir to Hitch Younge MP.

His second surviving son Edward married Harriet Fawkener and became the owner of Delapré Abbey, Northamptonshire.

Members of the Bouverie family went on to hold the Salisbury seat in Parliament for almost the next hundred years.