(519) Beaumont of Bretton Hall and Bywell Hall, Viscounts Allendale

Beaumont of Bretton Hall & Bywell Hall,
Viscounts Allendale

The story of the Beaumonts of Bretton Hall and Bywell Hall begins with the family of that name who were settled at Darton (Yorks WR) in the early 17th century. They were distantly related to the family at Whitley Beaumont, but were yeomen farmers rather than gentry until the 17th century. Edward Beaumont traces their descent from John de Beaumont (d. 1354) of Crosland Hall, ancestor of the Beaumonts of Whitley Beaumont, through his son Henry de Beaumont (c.1335-1405), to his son Roger de Beaumont (fl. 1427) of Crosland Foss. His son, John Beaumont (fl. 1483?) had an eldest son, Lawrence Beaumont (fl. 1495), whose son John Beaumont (d. 1521) of Netherton, Almondsbury (Yorks WR) had a son Humphrey Beaumont (d. 1568) of Flockton (Yorks WR). His son, Thomas Beaumont (d. 1614) of Over Flockton was in turn the father of George Beaumont (d. 1664) of Darton, with whom the genealogy below begins. George's house at Darton seems to have been Darton Hall, a rather grand 17th century farmhouse (sadly now demolished), and references in Burke's Landed Gentry and some other sources to their being seated at 'The Oaks, Darton' seem to be in error. George's son William Beaumont (1638-1713) bought the Chapelthorpe Hall estate near Sandal Magna in 1683, and in his later years styled himself as 'gentleman'. 

Darton Hall in the mid 20th century, from an old postcard.

William seems to have continued to live at Darton, while his son, George Beaumont (1663-1712), who predeceased him, lived at Chapelthorpe, and may have remodelled the house there. When William died in 1713, he left Chapelthorpe to his youngest son, Thomas Beaumont (1675-1731), who died unmarried and bequeathed the estate to his nephew, the Rev. Thomas Beaumont (1700-71), rector of Bulwell (Notts) from 1729-71. Darton passed to William's grandson, George Beaumont (1696-1735), who married the eldest daughter of Richard Beaumont (1670-1723) of Whitley Beaumont, and on his death to his son, Thomas Beaumont (1724-85), who came of age in 1745. Confusingly, the Rev. Thomas Beaumont allowed his nephew Thomas (1724-85) to live at Chapelthorpe Hall, but under the Rev. Thomas' will the estate passed to Thomas' younger brother, the Rev. George Beaumont (1725-73), rector of St Nicholas, Nottingham, and Thomas moved to Darton. One of the Rev. George's sons, yet another Thomas Beaumont, seems to have bought out the interests of his brothers in Chapelthorpe but later sold the property in 1811.

The Darton estate continued to descend in the Beaumont family, passing to Thomas Richard Beaumont (1758-1829) in 1785. His marriage the following year to Diana Wentworth (c.1760-1831), the illegitimate daughter but heiress of Sir Thomas Wentworth (later Blackett), 5th bt., transformed the fortunes of the family, as on the death of Diana's father in 1792 they inherited (technically as trustees for their eldest son) not just the Bretton Hall estate in Yorkshire but also extensive and mineral-rich estates in Co. Durham and Northumberland, centred on the Abbey House in Hexham, a dwelling carved out the medieval monastic buildings attached to the famous abbey church. 

Abbey House, Hexham: drawing by S.H. Grimm, c.1778, showing the house before remodelling
by T.R. Beaumont. The house was extensively damaged by fire in 1818. Image: British Library.

The lead mines on the estate alone are said to have given them an income of £100,000 a year, some of which was spent on improving the Abbey House and making additions at Bretton Hall. In 1810, they also bought Bywell Hall in the Tyne valley near Newcastle, and funded its remodelling to the designs of John Dobson. Relations between the Beaumonts and their eldest son, Thomas Wentworth Beaumont (1792-1848), became strained because of their reluctance to give him full control of the Bretton and Northumberland estates when he came of age in 1813. They considered, with some justification, that he was a headstrong young man, and not yet fit to take on such great responsibilities, but not unnaturally, their son resented their attitude and chafed at living on a (generous) allowance. In 1818, his father retired as Tory MP for Northumberland and Thomas Wentworth Beaumont took over the seat; his parents no doubt hoped that this was a sign of his settling down, and gave him control of the Bywell estate. But worse was in store: in 1821 T.W. Beaumont crossed the floor of the house and became not just a Whig but a radical Whig. In 1826 there was a duel and a broken engagement; and in 1827 a marriage to which his mother in particular raised strong objections. Not until his mother's death in 1831 did Thomas gain full control of his estates, and he then found that his mother's expenditure on the gardens at Bretton and the legacies which he was required to pay out of the estate left him temporarily financially embarrassed. He therefore sold off the contents of Bretton Hall and pulled down most of those parts of the house which his parents had built. Not only did these measures release some capital and reduce running costs, but they helped to extirpate his memories of his mother. In 1837 he left Parliament and spent six years travelling on the Continent, only returning to England for the last five years of his life.

T.W. Beaumont and his wife had four sons and two daughters, and he was succeeded by his eldest son, Wentworth Blackett Beaumont (1829-1907), who after serving as an MP for forty years was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Allendale. He derived fabulous wealth from lead and later coal mines on his Northumberland and Durham estates, and when he died in 1907 his estate was valued for probate at nearly £3.2m. By modern standards, his wealth was amassed through the exploitation of mineworkers living in poverty and working in appalling conditions, but there was nothing exceptional about his conduct by the standard of the times and welfare standards on the Beaumont estate were indeed considered good at the time. Having said that, when a dispute with the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1880-83 about the payment of tithe on lead ore caused him to close many of his mines and lay off his workers, he was attacked verbally and in print in unrestrained terms by his own brother, Walter Beaumont (1832-94), who saw at first hand the misery of the working people and recognised that they were paying the price for his brother's principles.

In 1907, the Bretton, Hexham and Bywell estates descended to Lord Allendale's eldest son, Wentworth Canning Blackett Beaumont (1860-1923), who became the 2nd Baron Allendale and in 1911 was promoted in the peerage to be 1st Viscount Allendale. He sold the Abbey House in Hexham to Hexham Urban District Council in 1911, but the rich earnings from coal mining protected the estate from the impact of the Agricultural Depression and rising taxation. Nevertheless, when the 1st Viscount died in 1923 his probate valuation was only £2m, less than two-thirds of his father's wealth sixteen years earlier. Bretton Hall and Bywell Hall, and the lands in Northumberland and Durham descended to his eldest son, Wentworth Henry Canning Beaumont (1890-1956), who after serving in the First World War settled down to manage the estates, enjoy hunting and horse-racing, and serve as an active peer, a courtier, and as Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland, 1949-56. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1951. By then coal mining on the estate had been nationalised, and in 1947 he sold Bretton Hall for conversion to a teacher training college. Bywell Hall became the principal seat of the family, and his son, Wentworth Hubert Charles Beaumont (1922-2002), 3rd Viscount Allendale, sold the remainder of the Bretton estate in 1957. After his death, his son and successor, Wentworth Peter Ismay Beaumont (b. 1948), the 4th and present Viscount Allendale, did not occupy Bywell Hall, which fell into neglect, but in about 2016 he handed over the house and the management of some aspects of the estate to his son, the Hon. Wentworth Ambrose Ismay Beaumont (b. 1979), who with his wife Vanessa has restored the house and made it once more a key asset of the estate.

Chapelthorpe Hall, Yorkshire (WR)

Chapelthorpe Hall, Sandal Magna: sketch by Samuel Buck, 1719. 

The house was probably built in the mid 17th century for the Worrall family, and Samuel Buck's view shows that the main south front originally had gables with finials and mullioned windows on the first floor. By the time Buck saw the house, the ground-floor had mullioned and transomed cross-windows, but these may have been a later alteration, perhaps for George Beaumont (d. 1712), who lived in the house during his father's lifetime. Buck shows a simple pedimented porch, and an enclosed forecourt with elaborate gatepiers, wrought iron gates and an overthrow. The fabric of the 17th century house essentially survives, but it can hardly be recognised today because of an extensive mid-late 18th century rebuilding (in which the gables were no doubt removed) and because in 1847 the house was more than doubled in size by the addition of a taller new block, of five widely-spaced bays. This was no doubt built for John Charlesworth Dodgson Charlesworth (1815-80), who seems to have been living at Chapelthorpe before his father's death in 1850; the new block stands behind the original house and faces north. 

Chapelthorpe Hall: the north front of 1847.

At the same time, the older part of the house was again remodelled: the windows were given architraves, friezes and cornices; and a Doric porch was added in the centre. These additions gave the house a mildly Italianate air, which was emphasised by a central lantern over the staircase, removed after 1913. The western service range was partly demolished in 1903. Inside, two rooms behind the south front have 18th century decoration and fireplaces, dating from the Georgian remodelling. The Early Victorian interiors are in classical style and include the entrance hall on the south and the top-lit staircase.

Chapelthorpe Hall: the entrance front in 1913, with the lantern over the staircase in the background.

Descent: sold 1683 to William Beaumont (1638-1713); to son, Thomas Beaumont (1675-1731); to nephew, Rev. Thomas Beaumont (1700-71); to nephew, Rev. George Beaumont (1725-73); to sons, among whom Thomas Beaumont established sole possession; sold 1811 to John Dodgson Charlesworth (1778-1850); to son, John Charlesworth Dodgson Charlesworth MP (1815-80); to son, Col. Albany Hawke Charlesworth (1854-1914), who sold 1895 to J.W. Walker; sold 1921 to Mrs. Manby; to son, Thomas Fawcett Manby (1888-1967); to son, Thomas Charles David Manby (1923-2002); leased to Wakefield Independent School, 1980-98 and then for use as offices; sold 2017 with a view to reconversion as a private residence.

Bretton Hall, Yorkshire (WR)

The house stands on the north side of the shallow valley of the River Dearne. The earliest parts of the present building date from c.1720, but its predecessor was recorded by Samuel Buck in 1719, shortly before its demolition. It seems to have been a modest, irregular, and possibly partly semi-timbered building with a small formal garden adjoining one end, and mullioned and transomed windows. Some panelling and a bed of 1542 (reputedly slept in by Henry VIII) were moved from the old house to its successor, and moved again in 1958 to the Leeds City Museum & Art Gallery at Temple Newsam.

Bretton Hall: sketch of the predecessor of the present house by Samuel Buck, 1719.

The panelling and bed from the Tudor Bretton Hall now at Temple Newsam House Museum.
Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

The new house was begun c.1720 for Sir William Wentworth, who is thought to have designed it himself with the assistance of Col. James Moyser of Beverley, a friend of Lord Burlington, who was also involved rather later at Nostell Priory. The house was described in 1730 as 'now a-building' by the Earl of Mar (then in exile on the continent), who thought the building too plain, and made unsolicited plans for improvements including a piano nobile, porticos to the east and west fronts, and a bow on the south end. Despite very frequent changes over the next hundred years, Wentworth's austere Palladian house is still discernible: it was a nine by five bay block of two-and-a-half storeys, with a low-pitched roof hidden behind a balustrade and sash windows set in moulded architraves. Rather curiously, no surviving view seems to be known of the house before late 18th century alterations.

Bretton Hall: J.P. Neale's engraving of 1822, showing the house after the alterations by Lindley, Atkinson and Wyatville. 

The first changes were made for Sir Thomas Wentworth (later Blackett) (d. 1792), who inherited his uncle's Northumberland estates. He brought in William Lindley of Doncaster, who in about 1790 rebuilt the detached kitchens north of the house as an L-shaped block of two storeys above a basement, linked to the house by a long corridor. Blackett left the estate to his illegitimate daughter, Diana, the formidable wife of Col. Thomas Richard Beaumont (1758-1829), who spent a fortune on the house. They first engaged William Atkinson who added the tall entrance porch with four fluted Greek Doric columns in 1805 and created the terrace overlooking the valley. He probably also put the pediments on the ground-floor windows on the south and east sides and added the big three-bay bow window on the south end of the house, realising (though he may not have known it), one of Lord Mar's suggestions. The bow was originally of two storeys, but later raised to the present three. Another element of Atkinson's scheme was a quadrant orangery leading to hot and cold baths, a museum and a dairy, but the orangery survived for less than a decade, being removed to make way for a much more ambitious addition by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville in 1811-14. He filled the gap between the north end of the house and the offices with a square vestibule and a huge bow-ended dining room projecting to the east. On the west, a large ante-room with bedrooms over led to an irregular north-west range containing a library, music room and 'Young Ladies Sitting Room' linked to Atkinson's museum.

Bretton Hall: the short-lived domed conservatory
designed by William Marnock and completed in 1829.

In 1831 the estate came to Thomas Wentworth Beaumont (1792-1848), who sold the contents of the house and also the extraordinary domed conservatory, built for his mother by Robert Marnock (head gardener from 1829) and then only recently completed. He then commissioned George Basevi to demolish Atkinson's remaining work on the west side and replace the museum with a new orangery of c.1835. This has seven bays, with square Doric piers. On the east front the dining room was replaced c.1841 with a smaller three-bay one on a north-south axis, projecting by only one bay. Basevi reconfigured the necessarily shortened offices with an additional bay, and restored their symmetry with a new seven-bay front with a pediment carried on four giant pilasters.

Bretton Hall: the entrance front today

Bretton Hall: the south and west fronts today.

Bretton Hall: simplified ground floor plan, naming the rooms described in the text.

The house of the 1720s had a triple-pile layout, with the middle pile occupied by two top-lit staircases and a broad groin-vaulted passageway across the back of the entrance hall and separated from it by an arcade, so that it has borrowed light from the hall. The entrance hall dates from the 1720s, and so does the main staircase, which has a fine wrought-iron balustrade. Both rooms are decorated with grisaille panels of Roman figures and trophies which may be 19th century. One room on the west side of the house has an original plaster ceiling, and the room to its north has a siena-and-white marble chimneypiece with a pastoral scene by William Collins, c.1761. 

Bretton Hall: breakfast room in 1938. Image: Country Life.

Bretton Hall: Yellow Drawing Room in 1938. Image: Country Life.

The rooms east and west of the staircase have coved ceilings and dainty Adamesque decoration, and there is compelling evidence that at least the east one (the dining room in the 18th century but now called the breakfast room) was altered by John Carr in 1793-94. Its rich plasterwork is very similar to that at Farnley Hall (Yorks WR) and has monochrome medallions like those at Farnley painted by Theodore de Bruyn.

Bretton Hall: the Wyatville vestibule of 1811-14, photographed in 1938. Image: Country Life.

The spectacular square two-storey vestibule north of the staircase is one of Wyatville's finest spaces. Cast iron columns clad in yellow scagliola support the upper stage, which rises to an octagonal lantern supported on ornamented pendentives. A balcony opens from the half-landing of the staircase at first-floor level, where the walls are painted with striking architectural capriccios of classical ruins in the style of Panini and Piranesi: a late example of this style of decoration. The side walls of the staircase have similar scenes. The paintings are attributed to Agostino Aglio, although one wall is signed Kitchen. 

Bretton Hall: the library in 1938. Image: Country Life.

Bretton Hall: music room in 1938. Image: Country Life.

The library and music room in the north-west block had Regency decoration, the former with elegant bookcases inset into the walls and the latter with a segmental ceiling and painted decoration. Wyatville's ante room was redecorated c.1852 with a heavy Baroque ceiling with coffering and pendants. The dining room received equally overwhelming Rococo plasterwork, the exuberance of which is confused by much tamer wall panels and swags introduced by Guy Elwes, c.1930. 

Bretton Hall: tapestry drawing room in 1938. Image: Country Life

Bretton Hall: dining room in 1938. Image: Country Life.

The chimneypiece here, with vine scrolls and the heads of an eagle and a tiger, survives, but many others were removed to Bywell Hall in 1947, when the house was sold by the Beaumont family. It became a teacher training college and later a campus of Leeds University, but this closed in 2009 and the property was sold to a development company for conversion to an hotel. The student accommodation blocks in the grounds were then demolished and restoration work was begun on the park and the house itself

The 500-acre park was first landscaped by Sir Thomas Wentworth, who consulted Richard Woods in 1764, although it is not known how far he was involved. The upper lake was created by c.1767 and the larger lower lake in 1776, and further landscaping took place in the 19th century that extended the parkland. Pleasure grounds were laid out around the the lakes from the 1760s onwards, and included a rustic shell grotto with a conical roof, designed by William Lindley, a boathouse with a roof supported on six stone columns, the Obelisk, an unfluted column, and a Gothick 'Temple of Venus and Bacchus' where Sir Thomas could simultaneously exercise his two favourite recreations. 

Bretton Hall: Temple of Venus and Bacchus. Image: Cannon Hall Museum.

The most striking item, however, was a four-storey folly tower known as Bella Vista, attributed to John Carr, in which each level was smaller than the one below, like a wedding-cake. Sadly this was later reduced to two storeys, and after the Second World War, when the park fell into disrepair, it was demolished altogether. Recent restoration work in the park began with the lakes, the Cascade Bridge and weir between them, and the surrounding buildings in 2009-11; the former chapel of 1744 was restored as a gallery space in 2013-14. The restoration of Wyatville's Camellia House of 1814 began in 2021. Since 1977 part of the park has been the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, for which tactful new buildings were built in 2002-05.

Bretton Hall: the restored park landscape.

Descent: Sir Thomas Wentworth (c.1615-75), 1st bt.; to son, Sir Matthew Wentworth (d. 1678), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Matthew Wentworth (c.1665-1706), 3rd bt.; to son, Sir William Wentworth (1686-1763), 4th bt.; to son, Sir Thomas Wentworth (later Blackett) (1726-92), 5th bt.; to illegitimate daughter, Diana Wentworth (d. 1831), wife of Col. Thomas Richard Beaumont (1758-1829); to son, Thomas Wentworth Beaumont (1792-1848); to son, Wentworth Blackett Beaumont (1829-1907), 1st Baron Allendale; to son, Rt. Hon. Wentworth Canning Blackett Beaumont (1860-1923), 2nd Baron and 1st Viscount Allendale; to son, Wentworth Henry Canning Beaumont (1890-1956), 2nd Viscount Allendale, who sold 1947 to West Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

Bywell Hall, Northumberland

Bywell Hall in Northumberland was granted by the Crown in 1571 to the Fenwick family, who built a new house here to replace the 15th century Bywell Castle, of which parts still stand. In about 1760, William Fenwick commissioned James Paine to improve the house. He designed a new front block, facing south towards the river Tyne, which was a compact rectangle containing the principal rooms arranged around a large main staircase, which stands in the centre of the block and was top-lit. 'In the old parts of the house' he wrote, 'are many useful rooms for family purposes, but the whole being very irregular, [I] designed the two wing walls to masque the old buildings, and accompany the body of the house'. The wing walls. and a projecting first-floor balcony in the centre of main front (such as Paine had designed for Stockeld Park), were however never built.

Bywell Hall: James Paine's original design, with the unbuilt screen walls to mask parts of the old house retained for service purposes.

Paine designed his new block to have much of the character of a Palladian villa: something emphasised originally by a large polygonal attic over the staircase which was derived from the dome of Lord Burlington's Chiswick villa. The main front has a composition of three pediments in a row, with the centre given emphasis by the attic and a slightly wider pediment. Paine had used three pediments on a facade before, but only where those on the wings were lower and recessed. Raising the wings to the same height as the centre allowed more accommodation to be packed into the block, and was justified by precedents, in the form of the Kentian Stanwick Park (Yorks) and Palladio's reconstruction of the Roman Baths. Bywell is a very ornate design, with much enrichment in addition to the surface modelling. The central pediment becomes the top element of an applied portico which is further elaborated by a subsidiary cornice, and there is a wealth of cornice-strips, splayed window surrounds and empty niches. The resulting composition is undeniably lively, but all this energy is not well controlled, and the criticism John Adam made of Belford Hall, that it was 'too busy' could be applied to Bywell with more force. This was perhaps something Paine realised, as his later designs used small-scale enlivening detail more sparingly.

Bywell Hall: the house in 2018. Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

The interior of the house has been altered and Paine's original Imperial staircase does not survive, but the drawing room retains an original carved marble fireplace and a Palladian compartmented ceiling, and several other rooms have later decoration in a complementary style.

At the beginning of the 19th century the Fenwick family sold Bywell Hall to Thomas Richard Beaumont (1758-1829), for whose son, Thomas Wentworth Beaumont, John Dobson reconstructed the older parts of the house in keeping with the style of Paine's front block. There were further additions c.1890, when a four-bay block was added the north-west of the house in the same style. The house remains the property of the family today, and it is now occupied by the Hon. Wentworth Beaumont (b. 1979), who restored the house after a period of neglect in 2016-18.

Descent: Roger Fenwick of Shortflatt (d. 1636); to son, William Fenwick (c.1629-78); to son, Sir Robert Fenwick (1668-91); to son, William Fenwick (d. 1719); to daughter Margaret, wife of John Fenwick (1698-1747) of Stanton and Brinkburn; to son, William Fenwick (1722-82); to son, William Fenwick (1749-1802)... sold 1810 to Thomas Richard Beaumont (1758-1829) for his son, Thomas Wentworth Beaumont (1792-1848); to son, Wentworth Blackett Beaumont (1829-1907), 1st Baron Allendale; to son, Rt. Hon. Wentworth Canning Blackett (1860-1923), 2nd Baron and 1st Viscount Allendale; to son, Wentworth Henry Canning Beaumont (1890-1956), 2nd Viscount Allendale; to son, Wentworth Hubert Charles Beaumont (1922-2002), 3rd Viscount Allendale; to son, Wentworth Peter Ismay Beaumont (b. 1948), 4th Viscount Allendale.

Beaumont family of Darton, Chapelthorpe, Bretton and Bywell, Viscounts Allendale

Beaumont, George (c.1600-64). Younger son of Thomas Beaumont (d. 1614) of Flockton (Yorks WR), and his wife (d. 1609), whose name is not known, born about 1600. Yeoman and clothier. He married Sarah [surname unknown] (d. 1646) and had issue (perhaps among others):

(1) John Beaumont (1622-52), of Woolley Moorhouse, baptised at Darton, 27 March 1622; married Helen (who m2, Matthew Wilkinson of Greenhead), daughter of Thomas Townend of Hoyland (Yorks WR) and had issue one daughter (who died young); died February 1652;

(2) Sarah Beaumont (1625?-91), said to have been born 1625; married, 18 October 1656, Josias Wordsworth (c.1627-1709) of Waterhall, Penistone (Yorks WR) and had issue (of whom the poet William Wordsworth was a descendant); died 16 February 1691;

(3) Mary Beaumont (c.1630-78?), probably born about 1630; married, 18 June 1657 at Bradfield (Yorks WR), Jonathan Shaw of Hull Bank, Bradfield; perhaps the woman of this name buried at Luddenden, 3 April 1678;

(4) George Beaumont (1633-69), baptised at Darton, 11 June 1633; a Danzig merchant, based in York, who became wealthy and by his will founded the school at Darton (Yorks WR); died unmarried after 24 January 1669; will proved in the PCC, 17 November 1669;

(5) William Beaumont (1638-1713) (q.v.).

He lived at Darton Hall.

He died 29 April and was buried at Darton, 6 May 1664. His wife was buried October 1646.

Beaumont, William (1638-1713). Third son of George Beaumont (c.1600-64) of Darton and his wife Sarah [surname unknown], baptised at Darton, 5 September 1638. Yeoman and later Gentleman. He married, 26 June 1662 at Royston (Yorks WR), Jane (c.1643-1719), daughter of William Milner of Burton Grange near Barnsley (Yorks) and had issue:

(1) George Beaumont (1663-1712) (q.v.);

(2) William Beaumont (b. 1665), baptised at Darton, 6 January 1665/6; probably died young;

(3) Sarah Beaumont (1668-72), baptised at Darton, 7 May 1668; died young and was buried at Darton, 21 December 1672;

(4) John/Jonathan Beaumont (1672-1719?), baptised at Darton, 6 April 1672; said to have been living in 1713 and was perhaps the man of this name from Silkstone (Yorks WR) whose will was proved 12 May 1719;

(5) Joseph Beaumont (b. 1673), baptised at Darton, 24 April 1673; probably died young;

(6) Mary Beaumont (c.1674-1703); married, 29 June 1693 at Darton, James Smyth (1669-1720) of Wakefield and Manningham (Yorks WR) (who m2, by 1704, Mary, daughter of William Brooke of Dodsworth and had issue two sons and two daughters), third son of John Smyth (1623-86) of Myreshaw, Bradford (Yorks WR), but had no issue; buried at Bradford, 27 May 1703;

(7) Thomas Beaumont (1675-1731), baptised at Darton, 1 July 1675; inherited Chapelthorpe Hall on the death of his father in 1713; died unmarried and without issue, 30 April 1731 and was buried at Darton, where he is commemorated by a monument by W. Green;

(8) Jane Beaumont (1677-1753?), baptised at Dorton, 24 May 1677; married, 25 February 1696/7 at Darton, Abraham Hall (1676-1709) of Boothtown House, Halifax (Yorks WR), son of Abraham Hall (d. 1707), clothier, and had issue one son and one daughter; possibly the Jane Hall, widow, buried at Halifax, 27 February 1753;

(9) Anne Beaumont (1680-1726), baptised at Darton, 23 September 1680; married, 20 January 1705 at Darton, Thomas Dobson (d. 1747) of Bingley (Yorks WR), and had issue two sons and five daughters; buried at Bingley, 22 November 1726;

(10) Sarah Beaumont (1689-1733), baptised at Darfield (Yorks WR), 21 April 1689*; married, 12 April 1719 at Sandal Magna, Roger Coates (1686-1725) of Royd House, Kildwick (Yorks), and had issue two daughters; buried at Kildwick, 19 May 1733.

He inherited his father's property at Darton in 1666. He bought Chapelthorpe Hall in 1683.

He was buried at Darton, 18 December 1713; his will was proved in the PCY, 28 February 1714/5. His widow was buried at Darton, 29 May 1719.

* The fact that the baptism was at Darfield not Darton, and that her father was described as 'William Beamond of Hemingfield' means that it is not certain she belongs to this family, but the fact that her marriage took place at Sandal Magna makes it plausible.

Beaumont, George (1663-1712). Eldest son of William Beaumont (1638-1713) and his wife Jane, daughter of William Milner of Burton Grange (Yorks), baptised 5 September 1663. He married, 20 December 1688, Gertrude (d. 1713), daughter of John Bagshawe (1635-1704) of Hucklow (Derbys) and Litton (Yorks NR), and had issue (with others who died in infancy):

(1) Jane Beaumont (1689-1743), baptised at Sandal Magna (Yorks WR), 9 January 1689/90; married, 19 May 1713 at Sandal Magna, Abel Smith (1686-1756), of Nottingham, banker, and had issue six sons and four daughters; buried at St Peter, Nottingham, 9 October 1743;

(2) Mary Beaumont (1691-1738), baptised at Sandal Magna, 23 April 1691; married, 23 August 1711 at Sandal Magna, her cousin, John Grammar (d. 1720) of Pladwick (Yorks), and had issue one son and five daughters; died 13 August 1738 and was buried at St Michael-le-Belfrey, York, where she is commemorated by a monument;

(3) Gertrude Beaumont (1692-1761), baptised at Sandal Magna, 8 December 1692; married, 29 July 1715 at Sandal Magna, Rev. Thomas Hall (c.1684-1754) of Car Colston (Notts), rector of Westborough (Lincs), and had issue two sons and one daughter; buried at Westborough, 3o November 1761; will proved in the PCC, 11 February 1762;

(4) Sarah Beaumont (c.1693-95); said to have died young, 14 July 1695, but there is no entry for her in the Sandal Magna register;

(5) twin, William Beaumont (b. & d. 1695), baptised at Sandal Magna, 16 May 1695; died young and was buried at Sandal Magna, 28 September 1695;

(6) twin, John Beaumont (b. & d. 1695), baptised at Sandal Magna, 16 May 1695; died young and was buried at Sandal Magna, 28 July 1695;

(7) George Beaumont (1696-1736) (q.v.);

(8) Sarah Beaumont (b. & d. 1697), baptised at Sandal Magna, 11 July 1697; died in infancy and was buried at Sandal Magna, 16 July 1697;

(9) Rev. Thomas Beaumont (1700-71), baptised at Sandal Magna, 16 June 1700; educated at Queens' College, Cambridge (matriculated 1717; BA 1722; MA 1726); ordained deacon, 1727 and priest, 1728; rector of Bulwell (Notts), 1729-71; inherited Chapelthorpe Hall from his uncle Thomas in 1731; died unmarried and was buried at Bulwell, 22 February 1771; will proved in the PCC, 26 June 1771;

(10) Hannah Beaumont (1703-57), baptised at Darton, 29 October 1703; married, 5 November 1725 at Colwick (Notts), Rev. Andrew Burnaby (1702-76) of Bampton Manor House, rector of Asfordby (Leics), 1726-76; vicar of St Margaret, Leicester, 1729-63 and prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral, 1737-67, and had issue six sons and six daughters; died 22 July 1757 and was buried as Asfordby;

He lived at Chapelthorpe Hall (Yorks WR).

He died in the lifetime of his father and was buried at Darton, 12 June 1712. His widow was buried at Darton, 11 September 1713.

George Beaumont (1696-1735) 

Beaumont, George (1696-1736). Elder surviving son of George Beaumont (c.1665-1712) and his wife Gertrude, daughter of John Bagshawe of Hucklow (Derbys), baptised at Sandal Magna, 24 August 1696. He married, 23 April 1723 at Kirkheaton (Yorks WR), Frances (1703-35), daughter of Richard Beaumont (1670-1723) of Whitley Beaumont, and had issue:

(1) Thomas Beaumont (1724-85) (q.v.);

(2) Rev. George Beaumont  (1725-73), born 26 September and baptised at Darton, 21 November 1725; educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (matriculated 1744; LLB 1751); ordained deacon, 1748 and priest, 1750; chaplain to 4th Earl of Aboyne, 1750; vicar of Brampton (Hunts), 1754-56; curate of Gedling (Notts), 1759; rector of St Nicholas, Nottingham, 1766-73; married, 30 July 1753 at St Peter, Leeds (Yorks WR), Elizabeth (c.1732-92), daughter of John Green of Leeds, merchant, and had issue six sons and two daughters; died 17 May 1773 and was buried at St Nicholas, Nottingham;

(3) Susanna Beaumont (1727-1804), born 11 September and baptised at Darton, 10 October 1727; brought up after her father's death by two of her father's sisters; married, 13 October 1767 at Bingham (Notts), Rev. John Walter (c.1735-1810) JP, rector of Bingham 1764-1810, but had no issue; died 15 July 1804;

(4) Richard Beaumont (b. & d. 1728), baptised at Darton, 13 October 1728; died in infancy and was buried at Darton, 23 November 1728.

He inherited Darton Hall from his grandfather in 1713 and came of age in 1717.

He died 27 January 1735/6 and was buried at Darton; his will seems to have been proved in the Exchequer Court of York, but administration of his goods with will annexed was subsequently granted in the PCC, 10 August 1738. His wife was buried at Darton, 14 April 1735.

Thomas Beaumont (1724-85) 

Beaumont, Thomas (1724-85). Eldest son of George Beaumont (1696-1736) and his wife Frances, daughter of Richard Beaumont of Whitley Beaumont, born 18 February and baptised at Kirkheaton, 23 February 1723/4. He was orphaned at the age of 11 and his guardianship was committed to four trustees appointed in his father's will; although his father's will provided for him to come of age at 21, the Prerogative Court of Canterbury ordered his trustees to give him control of his affairs at the age of 17. Perhaps as a result of these unusual arrangements, he appears not to have had a university education. He married, 18 July 1751 at Baildon (Yorks WR), Anne (1725-78), daughter and co-heiress of Edward Ayscough of Louth (Lincs), and had issue:

(1) Thomas Richard Beaumont (1758-1829) (q.v.).

He inherited Darton Hall from his father in 1735 and came of age in 1744. He inherited the personal estate of his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Beaumont, in 1771.

He died 6 February and was buried at Darton, 10 February 1785. His wife died 14 December and was buried at Darton, 18 December 1778.

Thomas Richard Beaumont
(1758-1829) 

Beaumont, Thomas Richard (1758-1829). Only child of Thomas Beaumont (1724-85) and his wife Anne, daughter of Edward Ayscough, born 29 April and baptised at Sandal Magna (Yorks WR), 21 May 1758. Educated at University College, Oxford (matriculated 1777). An officer in the North Lincolnshire Militia (Lt.) and the Army (Ensign, 1780; Cornet, 1780; retired 1783); in 1794 he raised a volunteer corps of which he was appointed Lt. Col., 1794 and Col., 1797, but he did not accompany his men to the West Indies in 1796 and retired in 1802. Pittite Tory MP for Northumberland, 1795-1818, although it was said that any administration could secure his support in return for the promise of a peerage. He suffered from ill health and was described as weak and foolish, especially when not in the presence of his wife, who kept him up to civilised standards of behaviour. After 1792 he lived in great state at the Abbey House, Hexham, supported by the revenues of the lead mines on his wife's property in Weardale, which are said to have brought in £100,000 a year, besides a further £80,000 a year from their other estates. He married, 28 July 1786 at Silkstone (Yorks WR), Diana (c.1760-1831), illegitimate daughter but heiress of Sir Thomas Wentworth (later Blackett) (1726-92), 5th bt. of Bretton Hall and Hexham Abbey, and had issue:

(1) Thomas Wentworth Beaumont (1792-1848) (q.v.);

(2) William Beaumont (1794-1871), born and baptised at Thorp, Rudston (Yorks ER), 9 September 1794; educated at St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1809; BA 1813) and Lincolns Inn (admitted 1813); lived at Beaconsfield (Bucks); died unmarried, 27 October 1871; administration of goods granted to his younger brothers, 1 February 1872 (effects under £100);

(3) Diana Beaumont (1796-1872), born 15 January and baptised at St. Marylebone, 12 February 1796; lived in London; died unmarried, 20 August 1872; will proved 4 September 1872 (effects under £30,000);

(4) Marianne Beaumont (1797-1858), born 25 September and baptised at Woolley (Yorks WR), 23 October 1797; married, 21 September 1837 at St Mary, Bryanston Sq., London, Edward Booth (1799-1864) of Catsfield House, Battle (Sussex), son of Edward Temple Booth of Norwich, and had issue one son; died 9 February 1858; administration of goods granted to her husband, 10 May 1858 (effects under £450);

(5) Richard Beaumont (1799-1877), born 25 January and baptised at St Marylebone (Middx), 22 February 1799; entered the Royal Navy, 1811 (Lt., 1819; Cdr., 1825; retired on half-pay, 1827); married, 9 February 1832 at Rudston (Yorks ER), Hon. Susan Hussey Macdonald (1807-79), fourth daughter of 3rd Baron Macdonald of Sleat, of Thorp, Rudston, and had issue four sons and one daughter; died 2 November 1877; administration of goods granted 14 December 1877 (effects under £12,000);

(6) Edward Blackett Beaumont (1802-78), born 2 May 1802; educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1820); an officer in the army (Cornet, 1823; retired by 1825); JP for West Riding of Yorkshire from 1831; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 1835; lived at Finningley Hall (Yorks WR) and Wood Hall, Darfield (Yorks WR); married, 25 April 1825 at Darrington (Yorks WR), his cousin Jane (c.1804-93), daughter of William Lee of Grove Hall, Ferrybridge (Lincs), and had issue two sons and three daughters; died 7 June 1878 at Notting Hill (Middx); will proved 6 July 1878 (effects under £200);

(7) Sophia Beaumont (1803-49), born 25 September and baptised at St Marylebone (Middx), 22 October 1803; married, after 1829, Alexander Treusch von Buttlar, Baron de Buttlar Brandenfels, but had no issue; died in Frankfurt (Germany), 26 January 1849;

(8) Henry Ralph Beaumont (1807-38) [for whom see my post on the Beaumonts of Whitley Beaumont].

He inherited Darton Hall from his father in 1785. On the death of his wife's father in 1792, he and his wife came into possession of Bretton Hall and Hexham Abbey as trustees for their heir, born later that year. He and his wife spent £12,000 improving Hexham Abbey (rebuilt again after a fire in 1818), and also purchased Bywell Hall in 1810 (in their son's name).

He died 31 July 1829; his will was proved in the PCC, 19 January 1830. His widow died 10 August 1831; her will was proved in the PCC, 10 October 1831.

Thomas Wentworth Beaumont (1792-1848) 

Beaumont, Thomas Wentworth (1792-1848). Eldest son of Thomas Richard Beaumont (1758-1829) and his wife Diana, illegitimate daughter but heiress of Sir Thomas Wentworth, 5th bt. of Bretton Hall (Yorks WR), born in London, 5 November and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 3 December 1792. Educated at Eton and St. John's College, Cambridge (matriculated 1809; BA 1813). Elected as a Tory MP for Northumberland in 1818 (following his father's retirement), he crossed the floor of the house and joined the Whigs and became an energetic advocate of parliamentary reform and a co-founder (with Jeremy Bentham) of the radical quarterly, The Westminster Review. Having failed to be re-elected in 1826 (in circumstances which led to a (bloodless) duel on Bamburgh Sands with Lord Grey's son-in-law, John Lambton, later the Earl of Durham), he used blatant bribery to secure election for Stafford at a by-election in December 1826, before being elected again for Northumberland, 1830-37. After leaving Parliament, he spent six years living chiefly on the continent. He was President of the Polish Literary Institution from 1832 and in 1835 founded the British and Foreign Review as a voice for the cause of Polish independence. He was noted for his liberal hospitality, and was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. An unsympathetic obituarist called him 'a man of little stability of character' while according to another source he was 'a mere slave of his passions and his habits'. His career shows several examples of radical changes of view on political questions, and exhibits some wild behaviour in other fields. After proposing to Elizabeth, the daughter of his party leader Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, and being refused, he became engaged to Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Swinburne, but this engagement was broken off after he made some very wild accusations of serial adultery (with among others, Lord Grey!) against her mother. He fell out with his mother over her refusal to hand him full control of the Blackett estates, and over his eventual marriage. He married, 22 November 1827 at Ripley (Yorks), Henrietta Jane Emma Hawks (d. 1861), daughter of John Atkinson of Maple Hayes (Staffs), a prosperous hat maker, and had issue:

(1) Wentworth Blackett Beaumont (1829-1907), 1st Baron Allendale (q.v.);

(2) Emma Diana Beaumont (1830-74), born 22 July and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 30 August 1830; married, 23 March 1858 at St James, Piccadilly, Rev. Stopford Augustus Brooke MA LLD (1832-1916), an Irish literary scholar who was chaplain to Empress Frederick in Berlin, 1863-65, minister of the St James Chapel, Bloomsbury, 1866-75 and of the Bedford Chapel in Bloomsbury, 1875-94, and chaplain in ordinary to HM Queen Victoria, 1875-80, when he seceded from the Church of England; they had issue two sons and six daughters; she died 20 June 1874 and was buried at St John, Hampstead (Middx);

(3) Walter Beaumont (1832-94), born 12 February and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 12 April 1832; educated at Harrow (1844-46) and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1854; BA 1858); an officer in the West Riding of Yorkshire Militia (Ensign, 1854; Lt., 1854); founded the Beaumont Scripture Prizes at Harrow; during the Weardale Mining Crisis of 1880-83 he campaigned with unrestrained and sometimes libellous rhetoric against the treatment of lead miners (many of whom had been laid off) by his brother and his brother's agents, believing himself to be on a mission from God to redress injustice; died unmarried in France, 17 November 1894; ironically, administration of his goods was granted to his elder brother, 23 February 1895 (effects £786);

(4) Florence Beaumont (b. 1833), baptised at St Lawrence (Kent), 19 August 1833; married 1st, 12 November 1858 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (div. 1865 on the grounds of her adultery with the man who became her second husband), George Edward March CMG (c.1829-1922), son of Thomas March of Brighton; married 2nd, 15 July 1866 at British Consulate in Florence (Italy), Baron Vincenzo Palumbo; death not traced;

(5) Somerset Archibald Beaumont (1835-1921), born 6 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 14 March 1835; educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1854); banker, and one of the founders (with Messrs. Glyn & Co.) of the Anglo-Austrian Bank; Liberal MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1860-65 and Wakefield, 1868-74; DL for Northumberland from 1863; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; lived at Shere (Surrey); died unmarried, 8 December, and was buried at St John, Hampstead (Middx), 21 December 1921; will proved 24 January 1922 (estate £121,265);

(6) Dudley Zamoiski Beaumont (1836-1907), born 18 September and baptised at Scarborough (Yorks), 18 October 1836; educated at Harrow, Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1855; BA 1860), and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1860; called 1863); barrister-at-law; a patient at The Priory Mental Hospital, Roehampton, 1900-01 (discharged relieved); married 1st, 9 December 1865 at St Nicholas, Brighton (Sussex), Eliza Mary (1839-71), daughter of George Hone of Brighton, gent., and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, 18 November 1871 at St Nicholas, Brighton, Mary (c.1849-94), daughter of William Serjeant of Brighton, commercial traveller, and had further issue one son and two daughters; died 15 December 1907; administration of his goods granted 11 January 1908 (estate £15,884).

His parents were trustees of the Bretton Hall and Hexham Abbey estates, and did not give him full control of his affairs until their deaths. He remodelled Bywell Hall in c.1819, perhaps as a replacement for the Abbey House at Hexham which burnt down in 1818; he subsequently built a bridge over the River Tyne at Bywell at a cost of £16,000. After he gained possession of Bretton Hall in 1829 he sold the contents and rebuilt parts of the house. As a condition of inheriting the Blackett estates in Hexham and Allendale from his mother, he had to pay £50,000 and a share in the interest on £150,000 to each of his surviving siblings. He contemplated selling some of the estate to meet these obligations, but instead stepped up production at his Yorkshire lead mines to improve his cash flow.

He died at Bournemouth (Hants), 20 December 1848, and was buried at Bretton; his will was proved in the PCC, 2 May 1849. His widow died at Wimbledon (Surrey), 22 November 1861; her will was proved 15 January 1862 (effects under £60,000).

Beaumont, Wentworth Blackett (1829-1907), 1st Baron Allendale. Eldest son of Thomas Wentworth Beaumont (1792-1848) and his wife Henrietta Jane Emma Hawks, daughter of John Atkinson of Maple Hayes (Staffs), born 11 April and baptised at St John, Hampstead (Middx), 15 May 1829. Educated at Harrow (1844-47) and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1847). An extensive landowner and proprietor of coal and lead mines. JP and DL for Northumberland and Yorkshire (West Riding) and JP for Co. Durham. Liberal MP for South Northumberland, 1852-85 and for Tyneside, 1886-92. He was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Allendale of Allendale and Hexham (Co. Northumberland), 20 July 1906. He married 1st, 6 March 1856 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), Lady Margaret Anne (c.1832-88), fourth daughter of Ulick John de Burgh (1802-74), 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, and 2nd, 17 February 1891 at St Paul, Knightsbridge (Middx), Edith Althea (1849-1927), daughter of Lt-Gen. Henry Meade Hamilton CB (1821-95) and widow of Maj-Gen. Sir George Pomeroy-Colley KCSI, CB, CMG (1835-81), and had issue:

(1.1) Hon. Margaret Harriet Beaumont (1856-1931), born 19 December 1856 and baptised at the Grosvenor Chapel, Westminster, 16 January 1857; married, 29 May 1881 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, Coplestone Richard George Warwick Bampfylde (1859-1918), 3rd Baron Poltimore, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 4 August 1931; will proved 10 September 1931 (estate £55,224);

(1.2) Violet Augusta Beaumont (1858-62), born 23 April and baptised at the Grosvenor Chapel, Westminster, 12 June 1858; died young and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, 12 April 1862;

(1.3) Hon. Amy Virginia Beaumont (1859-1949), born 8 November and baptised at the Grosvenor Chapel, Westminster, 29 November 1859; married 2 November 1890 at St Margaret, Westminster, Edward Knatchbull-Hugesson (1857-1909), 2nd Baron Brabourne and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 19 May 1949; will proved 7 July 1949 (estate £89,623);

(1.4) Wentworth Canning Blackett Beaumont (1860-1923), 2nd Baron and 1st Viscount Allendale (q.v.);

(1.5) Hon. Edward de Grey Beaumont (1862-1940), born 2 March and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 26 March 1862; an officer in the militia (2nd Lt., 1879; Lt., 1880), the regular army (Lt., 1885; Capt., 1892; Maj. 1900; retired 1903) and then again in the Territorial Army (returned to colours as Maj., 1915; retired 1918); died unmarried, 23 November and was buried at Bretton, 28 November 1940; will proved 12 March 1941 (estate £520,157);

(1.6) Hon. Hubert George Beaumont (1864-1922), born 6 April and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 12 May 1864; educated at Eton, Charterhouse, Balliol College, Oxford (matriculated 1883; BA 1886); Liberal MP for Eastbourne, 1906-10; High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, 1919; Knight of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem; married, 26 May 1900 at St Paul, Knightsbridge (Middx), Elisa Mercedes LGStJ (1869-1917*), elder daughter of Michael Paul Grace (1842-1920) of Battle Abbey (Sussex), an Irish-American businessman with shipping and mining interests, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 14 August 1922; will proved 19 October 1922 (estate £137,222).

He inherited Bretton Hall, Bywell Hall and Hexham Abbey from his father in 1848 and came of age in 1850. In 1883 he owned 14,279 acres in Northumberland, 9,015 acres in Yorkshire and 804 acres in Co. Durham. His town house was at 144 Piccadilly.

He died 13 February 1907; his will was proved 12 April 1907 (estate £3,189,144). His first wife died 31 March 1888; administration of her goods was granted to her husband, 14 May 1888 (effects £2,209). His widow died 19 May 1927; her will was proved 7 July 1927 (estate £51,647).

* She drowned in a swimming accident near Livorno (Italy), 10 August 1917.

1st Viscount Allendale

Beaumont, Rt. Hon. Wentworth Canning Blackett (1860-1923), 2nd Baron and 1st Viscount Allendale. Eldest son of Wentworth Blackett Beaumont (1829-1907), 1st Baron Allendale, and his first wife, Lady Margaret Anne (d. 1888), fourth daughter of Ulick John de Burgh, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, born 2 December 1860. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1879; BA 1884; MA 1888; DCL). An officer in the Yorkshire Hussars (Capt. and Hon. Maj.). Liberal MP for Hexham, 1895-1907; Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (Government Whip), 1905-07; Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard (Government Deputy Chief Whip in House of Lords), 1907-11; a Lord in Waiting (Government Whip), 1911-16; sworn of the Privy Council, 1911. DL for Northumberland from 1901. He succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Allendale, 13 February 1907, and was promoted in the peerage to be 1st Viscount Allendale, 5 July 1911. He married, 12 November 1889 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Lady Alexandrina Louisa Maud (1863-1945), daughter of George Henry Robert Charles Vane-Tempest (1821-84), 2nd Earl Vane and later 5th Marquess of Londonderry, and had issue:

(1) Wentworth Henry Canning Beaumont (1890-1956), 2nd Viscount Allendale (q.v.);

(2) Hon. Margaret Helen Beaumont (1892-1958), born 13 November and baptised at Christ Church, Down St., Mayfair, Westminster, 16 December 1892; appointed CBE, 1958; married, 8 February 1917, Hugh William Fortescue (1888-1958), 5th Earl Fortescue, and had issue one son and three daughters; died 10 June 1958; will proved 17 July 1958 (estate £66,498);

(3) Hon. Aline Mary de Burgh Beaumont (1895-1967), born 23 April 1895; married, 12 November 1925 (div. 1939), Geoffrey Richard Purcell-Gilpin DSC (1886-1971) (who m2, 22 July 1947, Denise Violet Daly (1902-53)), second son of Peter Valentine Purcell Gilpin (1858-1929), and had issue two daughters; died 15 April 1967; will proved 23 June 1967 (estate £34,333);

(4) Diana Beaumont (b. & d. 1897), born 22 January and baptised 31 January 1897, but died the same day, 31 January 1897;

(5) Hon. Ralph Edward Blackett Beaumont (1901-77), born 12 February and baptised at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster, 19 March 1901; educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1919; BA 1923; MA 1953); an officer in the Territorial Army (2nd Lt., 1931; Lt., 1934; Capt., 1939; Lt-Col., 1947; retired 1956); MP for Portsmouth Central, 1931-45; PPS to Postmaster General, 1935-40 and to Secretary of State for War, 1942-45; JP (from 1932) and DL (from 1961 and Vice Lord Lieutenant, 1962-77) for Montgomeryshire; High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire, 1957; a member of the Development Commission, 1952-69; Chairman of Machynlleth UDC, 1964-66; member of Welsh Economic Council, 1965; appointed CBE, 1967; married, 22 March 1926 at St George, Hanover Sq, Westminster (Middx), Helena Mary Christine (1903-62), younger daughter of Brig-Gen. Cecil Wray CB CMG CVO TD, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 18 September 1977; will proved 29 November 1977 (estate £225,314);

(6) Hon. Agatha Violet Beaumont (1903-94), born 26 December 1903; Officer of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem; married, 1 June 1933 at St Margaret, Westminster, Sir John Victor Thomas Woolrych Talt Perowne KCMG (1897-1951), eldest son of Col. John Thomas Woolrych Perowne (1863-1954) of London, and had issue one daughter (who died young) and one son; died 15 January 1994; will proved 15 March 1994 (estate £580,495).

He inherited Bretton Hall, Bywell Hall and Hexham Abbey from his father in 1907. He sold Abbey House, Hexham to Hexham Urban District Council in 1911.

He died in London, 12 December 1923 and was buried at Bretton, 17 December 1923; his will was proved 25 March 1924 (estate £2,006,770). His widow died, apparently intestate, 31 July 1945.

2nd Viscount Allendale

Beaumont, Wentworth Henry Canning (1890-1956), 2nd Viscount Allendale. Elder son of Wentworth Canning Blackett Beaumont (1860-1923), 2nd Baron and 1st Viscount Allendale, and his wife Lady Alexandrina Louisa Maud, daughter of George Henry Robert Charles Vane-Tempest, 2nd Earl Vane and later 5th Marquess of Londonderry, born 6 August 1890. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1912). An officer in the 2nd Life Guards (Lt., 1915; Capt., 1916; acting Maj., 1918) in First World War and was awarded the MC; later he was Hon. Col. of the 4th Battn, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and Lt-Col. and Hon. Col. of the Northumberland Hussars Yeomanry. He succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Allendale, 12 December 1923. Chairman of the West Riding Unemployment Centres, 1937-41;  Colonel of the Northumberland Home Guard in Second World War. Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland, 1949-56; a Lord in Waiting to King George VI and a Permanent Lord in Waiting, 1954. He was appointed CBE, 1943; CB, 1946; and made a Knight of the Garter, 1951, and was awarded an honorary degree by Durham University (DCL, 1951). He was Master of the Badworth Fox Hounds, 1936-45 and a Steward of the Jockey Club, 1947-50. He married, 20 July 1921, Violet Lucy Emily (1892-1979), elder daughter of Sir Charles Hilton Seely MP (1859-1926), 2nd bt., and had issue:

(1) Wentworth Hubert Charles Beaumont (1922-2002), 3rd Viscount Allendale (q.v.);

(2) Hon. Ela Hilda Aline Beaumont (1925-2002), born 27 May 1925; an Officer of the Order of St. John; married, 3 October 1945, Charles James Ruthven Howard (1923-94), 12th Earl of Carlisle, and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 18 February 2002; will proved 27 May 2002;

(3) Hon. Richard Blackett Beaumont (1926-2010), born 13 August 1926; educated at Eton; served with Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in Second World War (joined 1944; Sub-Lt. 1946-48); personal assistant to 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, in Hyderabad (India), 1947-48; ADC to Sir Donald MacGillivray, last British High Commissioner in Malaysia, 1954-55; was given the old-established firm of James Purdey & Sons, gunmakers by his uncle, Sir Hugh Seely (later Lord Sherwood) in 1949 (director, 1952; chairman, 1971; president, 1996) and ran it until he retired following a heart attack in 1994; a Liveryman of the Gunmakers' Company, 1950-84 (Master, 1969, 1984); author of Purdeys: the guns and the family (1984); married, 12 October 1971, Lavinia Mary (1928-2016), formerly governess to HRH the Earl of Wessex, younger daughter of Lt-Col. Arnold Ramsey Keppel (1879-1930); died 8 January 2010; will proved 20 April 2010;

(4) Hon. Sir Edward Nicholas Canning Beaumont (1929-2011), kt., born 14 December 1929; educated at Eton; an officer in the Life Guards (2nd Lt., 1950; Lt., 1951; Capt. 1957; ret. 1960); Secretary of Ascot Racecourse and Clerk of the Course, 1969-94; President of Berkshire St John Ambulance Brigade, 1988-94 (Serving Brother, 1962; Officer, 1988; Knight of St John, 1996); DL for Northumberland, 1996 and for Berkshire, 1982 (Vice Lord Lieutenant, 1989-94); appointed LVO, 1976; CVO, 1986 and KCVO, 1994; married, 8 October 1953, Jane (k/a Jinni) Caroline Falconer (1933-2007), daughter of Alexander Lewis Paget Falconer Wallace of Candacraig (Aberdeens.), and had issue two sons; died in a car crash, 22 June 2011; will proved 26 January 2012;

(5) Hon. Matthew Henry Beaumont (1933-2017), born 10 April 1933; educated at Bradfield College; an underwriting member of Lloyds, 1961; married 1st, 14 April 1959 (div. 1972), Anne Christina Margaret (1940-2018), elder daughter of Gerald John Hamilton (1910-89), and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, 13 October 1973, Belinda Jane Elizabeth, elder daughter of Maj. Harold David Cuthbert (b. 1932); died in 2017;

(6) Hon. George Andrew Beaumont (1938-60), born 21 June 1938; educated at Eton; killed in a flying accident in New Zealand, 3 January 1960.

He inherited Bretton Hall and Bywell Hall from his father in 1923, but sold Bretton Hall to West Riding of Yorkshire County Council in 1947, while retaining part of the estate. During the Second World War he lived at Bolam Hall (Northbld.).

He died 16 December 1956 and was buried at Bywell; his will was proved 8 March 1957 (estate £757,385). His widow died 6 May 1979 and was buried at Bywell; her will was proved 17 July 1979 (estate £88,027).

Beaumont, Wentworth Hubert Charles (1922-2002), 3rd Viscount Allendale. Eldest son of Wentworth Henry Canning Beaumont (1890-1956), 2nd Viscount Allendale, and his wife Violet Lucy Emily, elder daughter of Sir Charles Hilton Seely, 2nd bt., born 12 September 1922. Educated at Eton. He was notably accident prone as a child and by the age of fifteen had survived a house fire, electrocution and a gunshot wound. An officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (Pilot Officer, 1941; Flying Officer, 1932; Fl. Lt., 1943), who served in the Second World War and was wounded and became a Prisoner of War in 1942; ADC to Viceroy of India, 1946-47, serving under both General Lord Wavell and Lord Mountbatten. He succeeded his father as 3rd Viscount Allendale, 16 December 1956. DL for Northumberland from 1961. He was a racehorse owner and breeder, and a Steward of the Jockey Club, 1963-65; President of the Northumberland and Durham Association of Building Societies; an Officer of the Order of St. John. He married, 10 February 1948 at St Margaret, Westminster (Middx) (div. 1984), Hon. Sarah Field Ismay (1928-2021), second daughter of Rt. Hon. Gen. Sir Hastings Lionel Ismay (1887-1965) KG GCB CH DSO, 1st Baron Ismay, and had issue:

(1) Wentworth Peter Ismay Beaumont (b. 1948), 4th Viscount Allendale (q.v.);

(2) Hon. Mark Henry Beaumont (b. 1950), of Newbrough Hall, Hexham (Northbld), born 21 July 1950; educated at Eton; married, 17 April 1982, Diana Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Lt-Col. John Elliott Benson, and had issue two sons (one deceased);

(3) Hon. Charles Richard Beaumont (b. 1954), of Swallowship House, Hexham (Northbld), born 8 March 1954; educated at Eton and Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester; farmer and company director; High Sheriff of Northumberland, 2008-09; married, 27 October 1979, Charlotte Sybil (1956-2013), youngest daughter of Lt-Col. Richard Ian Griffith Taylor DSO MC of Chipchase Castle (Northbld), and had issue two sons and one daughter.

He inherited Bywell Hall from his father in 1956 and sold the remains of the Bretton Hall estate in 1957.

He died 27 December 2002 and was buried at Bywell; his will was proved 21 October 2003. His ex-wife died aged 92 on 10 January 2021; her will was proved 2 September 2021.

Beaumont, Wentworth Peter Ismay (b. 1948), 4th Viscount Allendale. Eldest son of Wentworth Hubert Charles Beaumont (1922-2002), 3rd Viscount Allandale and his wife, the Hon. Sarah Field Ismay, second daughter of Rt. Hon. Gen. Sir Hastings Lionel Ismay KG GCB CH DSO, 1st Baron Ismay, born 13 November 1948. Educated at Harrow and then worked on farms in Australia and Berkshire. He succeeded his father as 4th Viscount Allendale, 27 December 2002. He married, 14 February 1975, Tessa Mary Magdalene (b. 1950), second daughter of Francis Ambrose More O'Ferrall of Ellen's Green (Sussex), and had issue:

(1) Hon. Wentworth Ambrose Ismay Beaumont (b. 1979), born 11 June 1979; art dealer with Simon Dickenson and now art adviser and manager of Allendale Estates; restored Bywell Hall in 2016-18; married, 6 May 2011, Vanessa, literary agent, daughter of Peter Webb of Kensington (Middx), and has issue two sons and one daughter;

(2) Hon. Lucy Harriet Beaumont (b. 1981), born 30 April 1981; married, 27 April 2013 at Hexham Abbey (Northbld.), Hon. Michael Julian Marsham (b. 1979), second son of Julian Charles Marsham (b. 1948), 8th Earl of Romney, and has issue two sons and one daughter;

(3) Hon. Alice Theresa Beaumont (b. 1983); married, June 2014 at Hexham Abbey, Richard Maxey, son of Philip Maxey of Longmeadow (Herts), and has issue one daughter;

(4) Hon. Martha Rose Beaumont (b. 1986); married June 2015, Hon. Arthur George Vestey (b. 1985), second son of Samuel George Vestey (1941-2021), 3rd Baron Vestey, by his second wife, and has issue one son and two daughters.

He inherited Bywell Hall from his father in 2002.

Now living. His wife is now living.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 78-82; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1850, vol. 1, pp. 75-77; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 139; A. Oswald, 'Bretton Park, Yorkshire', Country Life, 21 May 1938, pp. 530-35 and 28 May 1938, pp. 554-59; I. Hall (ed.), Samuel Buck's Yorkshire Sketchbook, 1979, p. 131; P. Leach, James Paine, 1988, pp. 23, 31, 215-16; G. Sheeran, Landscape gardens in West Yorkshire, 1680-1880, 1990, pp. 55-59, 65-70; Sir N. Pevsner, I. Richmond et al, The buildings of England: Northumberland, 1992, pp. 206-07; K. Lynch, '"Happily situated, in an elegant style": the development of the Bretton Hall landscape, c.1760-1830', Garden History, vol. 41 (1), pp. 75-95; J. Woudstra, 'The influence of Robert Marnock on Bretton Hall, 1825-34', Garden History, vol. 41 (1), pp. 96-115; R. Harman & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Yorkshire West Riding - Sheffield and the South, 2017, pp. 142-46; L. La Zouche, Beaumont: Crusaders and Campaigners, 2020;

http://www.dukesfield.org.uk/thomas-wentworth-beaumont-1792-1848/;

https://beaumontarchives.blogspot.com/

Location of archives

Beaumont of Bretton Hall and Bywell Hall, Viscounts Allendale: manorial and estate papers relating to Hexham and Northumberland estates, 1559-1960 [Northumberland Archives, 00672]; deeds, estate and family papers relating to Bretton Hall estate, 13th-20th cents [Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society, MD340; DD70; DD156; West Yorkshire Archives Service, Wakefield WYW1849]

Coat of arms

Gules, a lion rampant argent, armed and langued azure, between eight crescents in orle of the second.

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 8 July 2022 and updated 12 April, 17 June, 17 September and 1 October 2024. I am grateful to Ch. David Waterton-Anderson and Edward Beaumont for corrections and additional information.