(514) Beauman of Hyde Park

Beauman of Hyde Park

This family, whose name was originally Bauman or Baumann, came from Bohemia (now the Czech republic), where they were significant landowners. They were Lutherans in religion, and following the expulsion of Frederick V, the Elector Palatine, by the forces of the Catholic League in 1620, they faced persecution and took refuge in Holland and some of the German protestant states. In 1689, Melchior Christopher Bauman (fl. 1716) accompanied his relative General Godert de Ginkell (later 1st Earl of Athlone) to England with the invading forces of King William III, and the following year moved on to Ireland, again with de Ginkell, where he participated in King William's suppression of the Jamesite invasion. Melchior subsequently settled in County Wexford, although it does not seem to be clear where in the county he had his base. His son John Bauman (d. 1761) was probably the first to acquire Hyde Park near Inch, which had previously been owned by the McGowan family. His son, John Bauman (c.1735-1802), is usually said to have been the first to adopt the name Beauman as an Anglicised form of his surname, but records of a long series of early 18th century legal cases in which John senior was involved show that the two forms of the name existed side by side for many years. John junior married Anne, the heiress of Edmond Rice of Ahare Park (Co. Wexford), and thus inherited that property, which he may have rebuilt as a three-bay farmhouse or small gentry house which was occupied by his mother until her death in 1782. John then advertised that he would let either Hyde Park or Ahare Park, but since he was consistently described in later documents as 'of Hyde Park', it was probably Ahare for which he found a taker, and he apparently later sold the freehold. It seems likely that Anne Rice had been brought up as a Catholic, for their three daughters were all raised in that faith, while their sons followed the family's Protestant tradition.

John Christopher Beauman (1764-1836), the eldest son of John Beauman (d. 1802), was trained as a lawyer although there is no evidence that he practised in the profession. During the 1790s he was a captain in the Coolgreny Volunteer Cavalry, and at the time of the 1798 uprising he apparently feared being thought insufficiently zealous in the Protestant cause as his sisters were Catholics and married into local Catholic families. According to a (probably partisan) memoir of the uprising, he responded by becoming an ultra-hard-line anti-Catholic, and participated in extra-judicial killings of local Catholics, but this may be mere malicious propoganda. After his father's death in 1802 he rebuilt Hyde Park, almost certainly to the designs of Sir Richard Morrison, creating the house which exists today. By his wife Jane Forde he had two sons and five daughters, and he was succeeded at his death in 1836 by his elder son and namesake, John Christopher Beauman (1800-40); he, however, died unmarried just four years later, so Hyde Park passed to his younger brother, Matthew Forde Beauman (1803-72). Matthew was celebrated in the mid 19th century for his concern for the welfare of his tenantry, and his obituaries noted that he had never once raised his tenants' rents in the 30 years since he came into possession. His only son, John Christopher Beauman (1846-69), predeceased him, and he left his estate to his widow for life, with remainder to his daughters. His widow died in 1880, and his daughters Ellen (1842-1900), Jane (1843-1920) and Emily (1853-1940) held the estate in turn. At the end of her life, Emily seems to have sold Hyde Park to Mr. J.F. O'Farrell, and it passed out of the family.

Hyde Park, Inch, Co. Wexford

The lands are said to have been granted to a Cromwellian soldier called Hyde in about 1650, and to have passed from him to the McGowans, who built a house here, possibly c.1690. When advertised to let in 1783, this building contained a hall, three parlours, and eight bedrooms, and was occupied with 110 acres of demesne land and a two-acre garden.

Hyde Park: entrance front in 2022.

The present house is a handsome, rectangular, stuccoed, two storey building with a stable court immediately behind it. The entrance front of three wide bays has a central tetrastyle Doric porch of stone and tripartite windows either side, set into basket-headed recesses each with a neo-classical patera in the tympanum. The return elevation to the left is of three plain bays but that to the right incorporates a shallow canted bay on the end of the front range with two plain bays beyond it. The house was built in 1803-07 (the plasterwork by James Talbot was completed in 1807) for John Christopher Beauman (1764-1836), and it was almost certainly designed by Sir Richard Morrison, being very similar to but slightly simpler than his Bearforest (Co. Cork), built in 1807-08. The attribution is supported by the involvement of Talbot as plasterer, since he was frequently associated with Morrison on other projects. 

Hyde Park: staircase hall in 1973. Image: Country Life.

Inside, a rectangular entrance hall with blank recesses in the side walls and simple plasterwork leads into a top-lit central square hall with an open-well stair with a plain stick balustrade that rises under a shallow dome, resting directly on the cornice. To either side of the entrance hall are the dining room, with an elegant grey marble chimneypiece, and the drawing room, with a corresponding white marble chimneypiece and the broad canted bay on the side elevation. The large windows mean that the house is flooded with light, but must have made it rather cold in winter. In the later 20th century the house was known for a period as Tara House, but it has now reverted to its original name.

Descent: [forename unknown] McGowan; sold to John Bauman (d. 1761); to son, John Bauman (later Beauman) (c.1735-1802); to son, John Christopher Beauman (1764-1836); to son, John Christopher Beauman (c.1800-40); to brother, Matthew Forde Beauman (c.1805-72); to daughter, Ellen Beauman (1842-1900); to sister, Jane Emily Beauman (1844-1920); to sister, Emily Beauman (1853-1940); sold c.1937 to J.F. O'Farrell; sold 1948 to Sir David Victor Kelly (1891-1959), kt.; to widow, Marie-Noёle, Lady Kelly (1901-95), who sold 1961 to Theo Alfred Gusken (1915-81),  a German businessman; sold to Dr Durkin of Dublin; sold 1989 to Pilgrim House Foundation; sold 2003; sold 2007; for sale, 2022.

Beauman family of Hyde Park

Bauman (alias Beauman), John (d. 1761). Eldest son of Melchior Christopher Bauman (fl. 1691-1716) (an associate and close relative of Gen. Godert de Ginkell, 1st Earl of Athlone, with whom he came to Ireland at the time of the Williamite wars). He was an attorney of the Court of Exchequer by 1720, and seems to have used the names Bauman and Beauman interchangeably. He married, perhaps c.1728, Margaret (d. 1782), daughter of Edward Barry of Rathrush (Co. Carlow), and had issue:

(1) Mary Bauman (b. 1729), baptised at Inch, 27 February 1728/9; married [forename unknown] Lawless; possibly the woman of this name who died in Dublin in 1776;

(2) John Bauman (later Beauman) (c.1735-1802) (q.v.);

(3) Barry Bauman (fl. 1745); died without issue;

(4) Margaret Bauman.

His father settled in Co. Wexford c.1691, and he acquired Hyde Park before his death, possibly in settlement of a debt from the previous McGowan owner.

He died early in 1761; his will (written 28 December 1760) was proved in Dublin, 7 April 1761. His widow died at her son's estate of Ahare Park, September 1782.

Bauman (later Beauman), John (c.1735-1802). Only surviving son of John Bauman (d. 1761) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Edward Barry of Rathrush (Co. Carlow), perhaps born about 1735. He Anglicised the spelling of his name from Bauman to Beauman. An officer in the Independent Wexford Light Dragoons (Col. commanding, 1775). He married, 1758, Anne (d. 1812), daughter of Edmond Rice of Ahare Park, Castletown (Co. Wexford), and had issue:

(1) Margaret Beauman (c.1760-1818), born about 1760; a Roman Catholic in religion; married Barry Lawless (1760-1820) of Cherrywood (Co. Dublin) and Shankill (a delegate to the Catholic Convention of 1792 who in 1793 conformed to the Church of Ireland), but had no issue; died at Tours (France), February 1818;

(2) Anne Beauman (c.1761-1843), born about 1761; a Roman Catholic in religion; married, 12 September 1808, as his third wife, William Talbot (1765-1849) of Castle Talbot (Co. Wexford), but had no issue; died at Farley (Staffs), May 1843;

(3) John Christopher Beauman (1764-1836) (q.v.);

(4) Edward Barry Beauman (b. 1767), born 5 March 1767 and baptised at Inch; a military cadet with the East India Company and later an officer in the 19th Foot (Ensign, 1799; retired 1801); said to have died in India*;

(5) Capt. Michael Beauman (c.1770-1809), born about 1770; an officer in the Madras Artillery (Cadet, 1790; Ensign, 1791; Lt., 1796; Capt., 1801); Superintendent of the Madras Arsenal; married, 8 May 1798 at Masulipatam (India), Mary (b. 1780) (who m2, 4 May 1810 in Dublin, Arthur Stock (1782-1831), son of Rt. Rev. Joseph Stock, Bishop of Killala and Achonry, and had further issue two sons, but separated from him in 1813, and moved to London where she was last heard of in 1817), daughter of Maj-Gen. George Lancelot Wahab, and had issue several children, of whom only one son survived to adulthood; died at sea while returning to England on the Indiaman, Lady Dundas, 14 March 1809; will proved in Dublin, 1811;

(6) William Beauman (c.1772-1837), born about 1772; admitted a solicitor in Dublin, 1794, and practised there; married, 1796, Charity (1768-1848), daughter of John Barrington and widow of Tenison Edwards of Old Court (Co. Wicklow), and had issue one son and two daughters; died 12 February and was buried at Inch, 17 February 1837; will proved in Dublin, 1837;

(7) Rear-Adm. Francis Beauman (1778-1846); an officer in the Royal Navy from 1790 (Midshipman, 1791; Lt., 1796; Cdr., 1805; Capt., 1807; Rear-Adm., 1841), who while a lieutenant became something of an expert in the quelling of mutinies, although in 1797 he had a narrow escape from being hung by the crew of HMS Pomfee; married, 18 July 1835 at the British Embassy in Paris (France), Countess Isabella Elizabeth (1790-1858), daughter of Francis Joseph Maria Henry de Viry, Baron de la Perriere (and later Count de Viry), also known as Henry Speed, and widow of Capt. Norman John Bond (1789-1827) of 39th Foot; died at Genoa (Italy), December 1846; 

(8) Mary Beauman (d. 1838); a Roman Catholic in religion; died unmarried in Dublin, about October 1838; will proved 1838.

He inherited Hyde Park from his father in 1761 and Ahare  Park (Co. Wexford) in right of his wife. In 1783 he advertised that he would let either property.

He died 13 December 1802; his will was proved in Dublin, 1803. His widow died 10 May 1812.

* Burke's Landed Gentry says that he died in 1800, but he was alive when he resigned his commission in 1801.

Beauman, John Christopher (1764-1836). Eldest son of John Bauman (later Beauman) (c.1735-1802) and his wife Anne, daughter of Edmond Rice of Aghare (Co. Wexford), born 29 October 1764 and baptised at Inch. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (matriculated 1781; BA 1785), Middle Temple (admitted 1785), and Kings Inns, Dublin (admitted 1788). He was an officer in the Coolgreny Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt.) and is said to have held moderate Protestant views before the 1798 uprising. Fearing to be thought insufficiently zealous in the Protestant cause because his sisters were Catholics, however, he is said to have became a fervent anti-Catholic, and according to the memoirs of Miles Byrne of Monaseed (admittedly a partisan source), he was involved in the extra-judicial killings of Roman Catholics. He was High Sheriff of Co. Wexford, 1821. He married, 2 October 1795, Jane (d. 1829), daughter of Matthew Forde (d. 1795) of Seaforde (Co. Down), and had issue:

(1) Elizabeth Anne Beauman (c.1797-1861), born about 1797; married, 20 October 1841 at Inch, as his second wife, Sir John Kennedy (1785-1848), 1st bt., of Johnstown Kennedy, but had no issue; died 3 March 1861;

(2) Anne Margaret Beauman (c.1799-1872), born about 1799; died unmarried, 19 April 1872 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin;

(3) John Christopher Beauman (1800-40) (q.v.);

(4) twin, Matthew Forde Beauman (1803-72) (q.v.);

(5) twin, Jane Beauman (b. 1803), baptised at Inch, 31 January 1803; died young;

(6) Charity Isabella Beauman (c.1804-96), born about 1804; married, 18 September 1835 at Inch, Lt. Henry Cavendish Hore RN (1790-1867), fourth son of William Hore of Harperstown, and had issue;  died aged 92 at Plymouth (Devon), 30 January 1896;

(7) Jane Emily Beauman (c.1806-71), born about 1806; died unmarried, 23 October 1871 and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin.

He rebuilt Hyde Park in 1803-07.

He was buried at Inch, 11 February 1836; his will was proved in Dublin, 1836. His wife died 12 March and was buried at Inch, 17 March 1829.

Beauman, John Christopher (1800-40). Elder son of John Christopher Beauman (1764-1836) and his wife Jane, daughter of Matthew Forde of Seaforde (Co. Down), born 1800. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1818). JP for Co. Wexford; High Sheriff of Co. Wexford, 1832. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Hyde Park from his father in 1836.

He died 24 September 1840 and was buried at Inch, 29 September 1840; his will was proved in Dublin, 1840.

Beauman, Matthew Forde (1803-72). Younger son of John Christopher Beauman (1764-1836) and his wife Jane, daughter of Matthew Forde of Seaforde (Co. Down), baptised at Inch, 31 January 1803. Educated at Eton. An officer in the army (Cornet, 1827; Lt., 1831; Capt., 1833; retired 1836). JP for Co. Wexford; High Sheriff of Co. Wexford, 1844. He was a resident landlord and noted for his care for the welfare of his tenantry, never raising his rents during more than thirty years of ownership. He married, 7 July 1841 at Delgany (Co. Wicklow), Harriet (c.1815-80), daughter of Rev. Thomas James Quin (1755-1841) of Wingfield (Co. Wicklow), prebendary and treasurer of the diocese of Limerick, and had issue:

(1) Ellen Beauman (1842-1900), born 11 April 1842; died unmarried, 6 January 1900 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin; will proved 1 October 1900 (estate £229);

(2) Jane Emily Beauman (1843-1920), baptised at Inch, 29 October 1843; died unmarried, 3 July 1920; will proved 25 August 1920;

(3) Harriet Beauman (1845-1900), baptised at Inch, 6 April 1845; married, 9 January 1878 at Inch, Maj. John Christopher Hore (c.1838-1902) of Oakley House, Shrewsbury (Shrops.), son of Henry Cavendish Hore, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 2 June 1900; will proved 2 October 1900 (estate £362);

(4) John Christopher Beauman (1846-69), born 3 March and baptised at Inch, 12 April 1846; educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1865); died unmarried in the lifetime of his father, 8 April 1869 and was buried at Inch (Co. Wexford);

(5) Anne Margaret Beauman (1847-1918), baptised at Inch, 6 June 1847; died unmarried, 6 September 1918; administration of goods granted 27 October 1920;

(6) Isabella Beauman (1848-71), baptised at Inch, 16 July 1848; died unmarried, 7 July 1871 and was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin;

(7) twin, Elizabeth Beauman (1850-89), baptised at Inch, 11 August 1850; married, 4 January 1888 at Inch, Henry Charles Quin of Bloemfontein (South Africa), son of William Quin; died of meningitis, 7 September 1889; administration granted 27 February 1890 (effects £446);

(8) twin, Mary Beauman (1850-93), baptised at Inch, 11 August 1850; died unmarried, 2 June 1893; administration of goods granted 22 July 1893 (effects £278);

(9) Emily Beauman (1853-1940), baptised at Inch, 6 February 1853; an accomplished harpist; died unmarried, 9 July and was buried at Inch, 12 July 1940; her will was proved in England, 5 February 1940 (estate £5,294) and in Ireland, 28 April 1941 (estate £2,212).

He inherited Hyde Park from his elder brother in 1840. At his death he bequeathed it to his widow for life, with remainder to his surviving daughters, the youngest of whom sold the estate in c.1937 and died in 1940.

He died 25 December 1872 and was buried at Inch (Co. Wexford); his will was proved in Dublin, 1 March 1873 (effects under £4,000). His widow died 11 September 1880 and was buried at Inch; her will was proved 5 April 1881 (effects under £3,000).

Principal sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1886, p. 111; E. McParland, 'Sir Richard Morrison's country houses: the smaller villas, part 1', Country Life, 24 May 1973, pp. 1462-66; A.M. Rowan (ed.), The architecture of Richard Morrison and William Vitruvius Morrison, 1989, pp. 29-31, 108; D. Rowe & E. Scallan, Houses of Wexford, 2016, entries 6, 558; N. Dunne-Lynch, Memoirs of Miles Byrne, 2018.

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Per pale demidiated argent, dexter, on a mount vert an oak tree proper; sinister, a knight in complete armour holding a sword erect in his right hand, all proper.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide fuller information about the recent ownership history of Hyde Park?
• 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 28 April 2022.