This article was published in Australian Dictionary of
Biography, Volume 3, (MUP), 1969 Sir James Penn Boucaut
(1831-1916), politician and judge, was born on 29 October 1831
at Mylor, Cornwall, England, the eldest son of Captain Ray
Boucaut (pronounced `Boco'), of the East India Co., and his wife
Winifred, née Penn, a staunch Anglican who claimed kinship with
the founder of Pennsylvania. He migrated with his parents to
South Australia in 1846 and found work as a stockman. In 1851 he
turned to the law, serving four years with Charles Fenn and one
year with H. W. Parker. He was admitted to the Bar in November
1855. In December 1861 Boucaut won a City of Adelaide by-
election with the support of the working class Political
Association, formed to oppose immigration at the public expense.
In the House of Assembly he confirmed his radical sympathies,
vigorously opposing an attempt to give plural votes to property
owners. In the general election of 1862 the return of prosperity
and the collapse of the association con