(511) Beauclerk of Little Grimsby Hall

Beauclerk of Little Grimsby 

This family were a cadet branch of the Beauclerks, Dukes of St. Albans. The 8th Duke, who lived principally at Upper Gatton in Surrey and Redbourne Hall (Lincs), had a large family of seven sons and seven daughters by his second wife, who was the heiress of John Nelthorpe of Little Grimsby Hall. Their second surviving son, Lord Frederick Charles Peter Beauclerk (1808-65) was bequeathed Little Grimsby Hall at his father's death in 1825, and came of age in 1829. However, like many of his family he pursued a naval career, and he rented the house out until he settled at Little Grimsby in about 1845. He married in 1848, and had two sons, the elder of whom, William Nelthorpe Beauclerk (1849-1908) succeeded to Little Grimsby at his father's death in 1865. William was then just a boy of sixteen, and the house was again rented out while he completed his education at Cambridge. However, in 1873 he joined the diplomatic corps, and until his death in 1908 he was rarely in England as he had a succession of postings around Europe, in Russia, China and South America. He seems to have possessed the same sort of energy and drive as his cousin, the 10th Duke of St. Albans, and was a natural linguist, and if he received a posting to somewhere where he did not already know the language, he simply turned to and mastered it. He learned Russian with the aid of a tutor in six months, and also had a command of Chinese, French, German and Spanish, and a certain amount of Hungarian. He married his first wife in Switzerland and met his second in China, and for the brief periods when his family were in England they occupied a house in Thurloe Square, Kensington (Middx).  William never lived at Little Grimsby as an adult, and his children can hardly have known it at all. When William died in Lima (Peru) in 1908, it passed to his only surviving son, Aubrey Nelthorpe Beauclerk (1879-1916), who was an officer in the North Staffordshire Regiment. Aubrey may have planned to retire to Little Grimsby at the end of his career, but he died while on active service in India, leaving a young widow and two daughters. His widow married again in 1919 and Little Grimsby continued to be let until it was sold in 1943. 

The diplomat's daughter, Violet Mary Beauclerk (1883-1961), was the most similar to him in spirit. She possessed a restless energy that led her to far-flung corners of the globe and to experience many different walks of life. In 1907 she married the eccentric and compulsive traveller, John Talbot Clifton (1868-1928) of Lytham Hall (Lancs), and accompanied him on some of his journeys, while also producing a family. She served as a nurse with the French Red Cross in the First World War, and after her husband's death turned to writing. In the 1920s and 1930s she produced several travel books, and a biography of her husband, which was so well-received that she was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the 1950s she became a Roman Catholic nun with the Order of Poor Clares, but she left the order after about six years, and returned to civilian life.

Little Grimsby Hall, Lincolnshire

One of the most charming and visually appealing houses in Lincolnshire, built for the Nelthorpe family in the early 18th century. The date is probably about 1700, or perhaps just a little later, a period suggested by the tall narrow windows with nine over nine pane sashes with thick glazing bars. The house is built of brick, with painted stone dressings, and has two storeys and a hipped roof with tall chimneys. 

Little Grimsby Hall, from an early 20th century postcard.

The seven bay entrance front is perfectly proportioned, with windows of equal height on the two floors, three elegant pedimented dormers in the hipped roof, and a generously projecting moulded wooden eaves cornice. The three central bays are very slightly stepped forward, and in the centre is a fine doorcase with a broken, scrolled pediment. The side elevations are of four bays, but the rear is irregular, with a tall arched window lighting the staircase and little other fenestration.

Little Grimsby Hall: side and rear elevations. Image: Ian S. Some rights reserved.

Inside, the house has a double-pile plan, with the centre occupied by the diagonally-paved entrance hall, which has an archway leading through to the staircase behind it. To the left of the entrance hall is the dining parlour, which communicates across a small hall containing the service stairs, with the kitchen. Two further reception rooms occupy the north-east and south-east corners of the house: the drawing room has a mid 18th century fireplace with elegant Rococo enrichment. The principal rooms have joinery of the highest quality, especially the hall, with fluted Roman Doric pilasters, and the excellent staircase, which has twisted, straight and fluted balusters on each tread. The hall, in addition to making a grand impression on visitors, was probably intended to be a summer parlour too.

Descent: John Nelthorpe (1736-84); to daughter, Maria Jenetta (d. 1822), wife of William Beauclerk (1766-1825), 8th Duke of St. Albans; to younger son, Capt. Lord Frederick Charles Peter Beauclerk (1808-65); to son, William Nelthorpe Beauclerk (1849-1908); to son, Aubrey Nelthorpe Beauclerk (1879-1916); to daughters, Daphne (b. 1911), wife of Count Claude Chauvin de Précourt and Hermione de Vere (b. 1915), wife of James Dewar; sold 1943 to J.L. Mountain... John Charles Mountain (b. 1948). The house was let in the late 19th and 20th centuries, to tenants including Thomas Garfit MP (1815-83); W. Haddon Owen (fl. c.1898-1915), Tom Wintringham MP (1867-1921), his wife, Margaret Wintringham MP (1879-1955), and E. Leslie Riley (fl. 1943).

Beauclerk of Little Grimsby Hall

Beauclerk, Lord Frederick Charles Peter (1808-65). Third, but second surviving, son of William Beauclerk (1766-1825), 8th Duke of St. Albans and his second wife, Maria Jenetta (d. 1822), only daughter and heiress of John Nelthorpe, born 29 June 1808. Educated at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. An officer in Royal Navy (Midshipman, 1823; Cdr., 1834; Capt. 1856). He married, 16 February 1848 at Alva (Stirlings), Jemima Eleanora (d. 1877), sixth daughter of James Raymond Johnstone of Alva, and had issue:

(1) William Nelthorpe Beauclerk (1849-1908) (q.v.);

(2) Frederick Amelius Beauclerk (1851-87), born 8 October 1851; educated at Charterhouse and Cheltenham; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1869; Lt., 1871; retired 1877); married, 12 January 1881 at Corsham (Wilts), Mary Harriett Isabella Cumberland (1857-1929) (who m2, 30 April 1898, Maj. Robert Fitzroy Maclean Johnstone (1859-1942) of the Indian army), daughter of Rear-Adm. John Bourmaster Dickson and sister of Sir John Dickson (later Dickson-Poynder), 6th bt. and later 1st Baron Islington, and had issue one daughter; died 22 May 1887.

He inherited Little Grimsby Hall (Lincs) from his father in 1825.

He died 17 November 1865 and was buried at Little Grimsby; his will was proved 10 July 1866 (effects under £4,000). His widow died 14 October 1877; her will was proved 9 November 1877 (effects under £3,000).

Beauclerk, William Nelthorpe (1849-1908). Elder son of Lord Frederick Charles Peter Beauclerk (1808-65) and his wife Jemima Eleanora, sixth daughter of James Raymond Johnstone of Alva, born in Peru, 7 April and baptised at Little Grimsby, 20 May 1849. Educated at Eton, Cheltenham and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1868; BA 1872; LLM 1875; LLD 1888). Joined HM Diplomatic Service, 1873 (Third Secretary, 1876; Second Secretary, 1879; Secretary to British Legation and later Chargé d'Affairs at Peking, 1890; Consul-General in Budapest, 1896; Consul General (and from 1906 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary) to Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, 1898-1908). JP and DL for Lincolnshire. Author of Rural Italy: an account of the agricultural condition of the Kingdom (1888). He was a fluent linguist, whose languages included Russian and Chinese. He married 1st, 27 April 1878 at the British Embassy in Berne (Switzerland), Jane Isabella (1856-88), second daughter of Rev. James Rathborne, rector of West Tytherley (Hants), and 2nd, 5 September 1892 at the British Consulate in Peking (China), Evelyn Amy (c.1869-1933), daughter of Sir Robert Hart GCMG, 1st bt., Inspector-General of Customs, China, and had issue:

(1.1) Aubrey Nelthrope Beauclerk (1879-1916) (q.v.);

(1.2) Isabella Eleanor Beauclerk (b. & d. 1881), born 28 September 1881; died in infancy, 9 October 1881;

(1.3) Violet Mary Beauclerk (1883-1961), born 2 November 1883; served as a nurse in First World War with French Red Cross and was awarded the 1914 Star and bar; author of Islands of Queen Wilhelmina (1927), reissued as Islands of Indonesia (1991), a biography of her husband, The Book of Talbot (1933), which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and Vision of Peru (1947); she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1933; a Roman Catholic in religion, she became a nun with the Order of Poor Clares, 1950-56 (as Sister Mary Seraphim); married 1 February 1907 at the Brompton Oratory, the compulsive traveller, John Talbot Clifton (1868-1928) of Lytham Hall (Lancs), Kylemore House (Co. Galway), and Kildalton Castle, Islay (Argylls), and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 20 November and was buried at Lytham St. Annes, 23 November 1961; will proved 8 March 1962 (estate £3,378);

(1.4) Florence Frederica de Vere Beauclerk (1885-1977), born 8 October 1885; married, 14 November 1912 at Holy Trinity, Kensington Gore (Middx), Lt-Col. Reginald Joseph Bentinck (1866-1937), son of Walter Theodore Edward Bentinck, and had issue one son and three daughters; died aged 91 on 4 June 1977; will proved 27 July 1977 (estate £7,521);

(1.5) Nelthorpe de Vere Beauclerk (b. & d. 1888), born 1 January 1888; died in infancy, 2 January 1888;

(2.1) Vera Louise Beauclerk (1893-1942), born in China, 21 September 1893; married, 23 April 1925 at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), George Ramsay Acland Mills (1896-1972), schoolmaster, son of Rev. Barton Reginald Vaughan Mills, but had no issue; died 5 January 1942; will proved 22 January 1942 (estate £339);

(2.2) Hilda de Vere Beauclerk (1895-1964), born in China, 21 January 1895; married, 21 June 1933 in Canterbury Cathedral (Kent), Miles Malcolm Acheson (1906-83), of Chinese Maritime Customs Service, son of Guy Francis Hamilton Acheson, and had issue two daughters (one of whom married Sir Claud Hagart-Alexander (1927-2006), 3rd bt.); died at Ganges, British Columbia (Canada), 16 September 1964.

He inherited Little Grimsby Hall from his father in 1865 and came of age in 1870. He had a town house at 6 Thurloe Sq., Kensington.

He died at Lima (Peru), 5 March 1908; his will was proved 30 October 1908 (estate £27,692). His first wife died following childbirth, 3 January 1888. His widow died 10 June 1933; her will was proved 22 August 1933 (estate £9,235).

Beauclerk, Aubrey Nelthorpe (1879-1916). Elder and only surviving son of William Nelthorpe Beauclerk (1849-1908) and his first wife, Jane Isabella, second daughter of Rev. James Rathborne, rector of West Tytherley (Hants), born 24 March and baptised at St Peter, Cranley Gardens, Kensington, 24 April 1879. Educated privately and at Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the North Staffordshire Regiment (2nd Lt., 1899; Lt., 1900; Capt., 1906; Maj., 1915). He married, 21 February 1911 at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), Vera Eileen May (1889-1975), only daughter of Capt. William Holcombe Francis of Hounslow (Middx), and had issue:

(1) Daphne Diana de Vere Beauclerk (1911-2005), born 26 December 1911; married, 19 April 1933 at the Brompton Oratory (Middx), Count Claude Antoine Chauvin de Précourt (c.1907-71), son of Count Charles Leschevin de Précourt, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 15 April 2005; will proved 28 March 2006;

(2) Hermione de Vere Beauclerk (1915-69), born 30 November 1915; married, 1 October 1939 at the Church of the Holy Redeemer, Chelsea (Middx), Fl/Lt. James Dewar MBE GM (1914-83), only son of James Evan Dewar of Putney (Surrey), and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 5 November 1969; will proved 5 March 1970 (estate £10,333).

He inherited Little Grimsby Hall from his father in 1908. 

He died suddenly, at Rawalpindi, Bengal (India), while on active service, 22 April 1916; administration of his goods (with will annexed) was granted 20 July 1916 (estate £15,574). His widow married 2nd, 29 April 1919 at Puddletown (Dorset), Capt. Gerald Andrew Greig (1881-1950), stockbroker, son of Robert Gillespie Greig, and died 4 April 1975.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 3459-64; P. Beauclerk Dewar & D. Adamson, The house of Nell Gwyn, 1974; D.L. Roberts, Lincolnshire Houses, 2018, pp. 228, 388;

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters, the arms of Charles II (1st and 4th, France and England quarterly, 2nd Scotland, 3rd, Ireland) all over a sinister baton gules, charged with three roses argent, barbed and seeded proper; 2nd and 3rd, quarterly, gules and or, in the first quarter a mullet argent.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide photographs or portraits of the people whose names appear in bold above, for whom no image is currently shown?
• If anyone can offer further information or corrections to any part of this article I should be most grateful. I am always particularly pleased to hear from current owners or the descendants of families associated with a property who can supply information from their own research or personal knowledge for inclusion.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 26 March 2022.