(510) Beauclerk of Bestwood Lodge, Dukes of St. Albans - part 2

This post has been divided into two parts. Part 1 consists of my introduction to the family and its property, and a description of the houses built or acquired by the Beauclerks. This second part gives the biographical and genealogical details of the Dukes of St. Albans from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Three main cadet branches of the family (the Beauclerks of Little Grimsby Hall; the Beauclerks of St. Leonard's Lodge; and the Beauclerks of Winchfield Hall) have been identified, and these will be subject of separate future posts.

Beauclerk family of Bestwood Lodge, Dukes of St. Albans

Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans 

Beauclerk, Charles (1670-1726), 1st Duke of St. Albans. Elder illegitimate son of King Charles II (1630-85) and his mistress Nell Gwynn (d. 1687), born at his mother's house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 8 May 1670. He was raised to the peerage as Earl of Burford and Baron Heddington, 27 December 1676, and advanced to be Duke of St. Albans on 10 January 1683/4. John Evelyn called him 'a very pretty boy' in 1684, but in 1704 Macky noted he had the dark complexion of his father. He was educated privately and travelled in France, 1684-85. He was appointed Chief Ranger of Enfield Chase (Middx), 1684, and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, January 1685. After his father's death King James II put pressure on him to convert to Roman Catholicism, which he refused to do. He was made Colonel of the 8th Horse, 1687, and was sent abroad to gain military experience with a Catholic tutor, travelling to Hungary. He served in the Holy Roman Emperor's Army at the capture of Belgrade (Serbia) from the Turks in 1688, where he took captive two Turkish boys, who he brought home to England*. He returned home in time for his coming of age and took his seat in the House of Lords, 11 November 1691. His regiment having been nearly wiped out at the Battle of Steenkirk in 1692, it was disbanded, but he returned to Flanders and fought under William III at the Battle of Neerwinden (another defeat), and he was again in Flanders as a military volunteer in the summer of 1694. Despite his kinship links to the Stuart court, he was a favourite of King William III and was later a firm supporter of the Hanoverian succession. He was given a pension of £2,000 a year in 1694, made Captain of the Gentleman Pensioners, 1693-1712 and 1714-26, and a Lord of the Bedchamber to King William III, 1694-1702, in which capacity he was with the king when he received Czar Peter the Great at Utrecht (Holland) in 1697. He went to France as an ambassador in 1697-98, nominally to congratulate King Louis XIV on the marriage of his son but perhaps really in an unsuccessful attempt to weaken his support for the Old Pretender, but he left an unfortunate impression and unpaid debts in the shops. On his return he was appointed Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery, 1698-1726. He was Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1714-26, and was made a Freeman and High Steward of Windsor, 1716, and High Steward of Wokingham, 1718. He was a Whig in politics, and King George I made him a Knight of the Garter, 1718. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, 1722. After a long betrothal, he married, 17 April 1694, the noted beauty, Lady Diana (c.1679-1742)**, second daughter and eventually sole heiress of Aubrey de Vere (1627-1703), 20th and last Earl of Oxford, and had issue:

(1) Charles Beauclerk (1696-1751), 2nd Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(2) Lady Diana Beauclerk (b. 1697), born 1697; died unmarried and probably young***;

(3) Lord William Beauclerk (1698-1733) (q.v.);

(4) Admiral Lord Vere Beauclerk (1699-1781), 1st Baron Vere of Hanworth (q.v.);

(5) Lord Henry Beauclerk (1701-61), born 11 August 1701; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1717; Capt., 1727; Lt-Col., 1735), who was present at the siege of Gibraltar, 1727; Lieutenant of the Gentleman Pensioners, c.1728-35; Colonel of the 48th Foot, 1743-45 and of 31st Foot, 1745-49, but resigned his commission following a dispute with Duke of Cumberland, who 'persecuted this poor man for these four years, since he could not be persuaded to alter his vote at a court martial for the acquittal of a man, whom the Duke would have had condemned'; MP for Plymouth, 1740-41 and for Thetford, 1741-61; purchased Foliejon Park (Berks), 1744 (sold after his death); married, 24 June 1739, Martha (d. 1788), a Maid of Honour to Queen Caroline, 1732, daughter of John Lovelace (d. 1709), 4th Baron Lovelace of Hurley and Governor of New York, and had issue two sons and six daughters; died 5 January 1761; will proved in the PCC, 27 January 1761;

(6) Lord Sidney Beauclerk (1703-44) [for whom see my future post on the Beauclerk family of St. Leonard's Lodge (Sussex)]

(7) Lt-Gen. Lord George Beauclerk (1704-68) [for whom see my future post on the Beauclerk family of Winchfield House];

(8) Lord Seymour Beauclerk (b. & d. 1708), born 24 June 1708; died in infancy, 1 July 1708;

(9) Rt. Rev. Lord James Beauclerk (c.1709-87), born about 1709; educated at Abingdon and Queen's College, Oxford (matriculated 1727; BA 1730; MA 1733; BD and DD 1744); prebendary of Windsor, 1733 and canon of Windsor, 1738; chaplain to King George II, 1739; Deputy Clerk of the Closet, 1745-46; Bishop of Hereford, 1746-87; died unmarried, 20 October 1787; will proved in the PCC, 26 October 1787;

(10) Capt. Lord Aubrey Beauclerk (c.1710-41), born about 1710; joined the Royal Navy, 1723 (Lt., 1727; Capt. 1731); married Catherine (d. 1755), daughter of Sir Henry Newton, Envoy to Tuscany and Genoa and an Admiralty judge, and widow of Col. Francis Alexander (d. 1721), but had no issue; killed in action when both his legs were shot off at the Battle of Cartagena, 24 March 1740/1, and was probably buried at sea; he is commemorated by a fine monument in Westminster Abbey designed by Peter Scheemakers;

(11) Lady Mary Beauclerk (b. 1713), born 1713; died unmarried and probably young;

(12) Lady Anne Beauclerk (b. 1716), born 1716; died unmarried and probably young.

King Charles II leased Bestwood Park (Notts) to Nell Gwyn in 1681 and she subsequently acquired the freehold from King James II. She was alos given a house (later Burford House) close to Windsor Castle and another at 79 Pall Mall, Westminster. All these properties were bequeathed to the 1st Duke at her death in 1687, although Burford House was leased out to Prince George of Denmark until the Duke came of age in 1691. He was never really wealthy by ducal standards, and his income reached a maximum of about £10,000 a year in the first years of the 18th century. The house in Pall Mall was sold in 1694 to satisfy his creditors, and he was again in debt to his bankers in 1706.

He died on or about 10 May at Bath (Som.), and was buried in St John the Evangelist's chapel at Westminster Abbey, 20 May 1726, but he has no monument; his will was proved 25 August 1726. His widow died 15 January 1741/2 and was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor, 28 January 1741/2; her will was proved 17 February 1741/2.

* One of them subsequently returned to his homeland while the other remained in England and died a Poor Knight of Windsor.

** The Duchess was First Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Anne during the Whig ascendancy of the early part of her reign, and later Mistress of the Robes and Lady of the Stole to Princess Caroline (later Queen Consort to George II) 1714-17, when she resigned because of the quarrel between King George I and his son.

*** Some sources say she was living in 1743, but this appears to be a confusion with the 2nd Duke's daughter of the same name.

Beauclerk, Charles (1696-1751), 2nd Duke of St. Albans. Eldest son of Charles Beauclerk (1670-1726), 1st Duke of St. Albans, and his wife Lady Diana de Vere (d. 1742), eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Aubrey de Vere (1627-1703), 20th and last Earl of Oxford, born 6 April 1696. Educated at Eton, 1706-07 and then privately and at New College, Oxford (matriculated 1714); travelled in Italy, 1716-17, with his friend Lord Nassau Paulet. Whig MP for Bodmin 1718-22 and Windsor, 1722-26; Freeman of Windsor, 1722 and High Steward of Windsor, 1726-51. Despite his kinship links with the exiled Stuart court, he was a firm supporter of the Hanoverian court, as his father had been, and he was made a Knight of the Bath when the Order was revived by King George I in 1725. He was styled Earl of Burford until he succeeded his father as 2nd Duke of St. Albans, Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, and Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery, 11 May 1726. He became a favourite of King George II, who asked him to supervise the renovations at Windsor when Queen Caroline made it her principal summer residence, and made him a Knight of the Garter, 1741. He was appointed Master of the Horse to Queen Caroline, 1727; Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1727-51; Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle and Lord Warden of Windsor Forest, 1730-51; and was a Lord of the Bedchamber, 1738-51. Despite this chain of senior offices, he was described by Lord Hervey as ‘one of the weakest men either of the legitimate or spurious brood of Stuarts’. He was particularly fond of hunting, and from 1734-46 he spent a month or more each year in Sussex, where his cousin, the Duke of Richmond, maintained a hunting pack, and where he rented a house and stabling at Findon, and built a hunting lodge at Charlton (Sussex). He married, 13 December 1722 at Bray (Berks)*, Lucy (1707-52), eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir John Werden, 2nd bt., of Cholmondeston (Ches.), Leyland (Lancs) and Holyport (Berks), and had issue:

(1) Lady Diana Beauclerk (1725-66), born 20 October 1725; married, 2 February 1761, Rt. Rev. and Hon. Shute Barrington (1734-1826), Bishop of Durham (who m2, 2nd, 20 June 1770, Jane (1733-1807), only daughter of Sir John Guise, 4th bt.); died in giving birth to a stillborn daughter, 28 May 1766;

(2) George Beauclerk (1730-86), 3rd Duke of St. Albans (q.v.).

He is said to have had two mistresses by whom he had illegitimate children, the first being his cousin, Renée (1707-74), illegitimate daughter of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, with whom is said to have had a daughter: 

(X1.1) Diane Beauclerk-Lennox (1727-64), who is said to have had a string of English and continental lovers by whom she had children, though her very existence seems doubtful.

By Marie-Françoise de la Rochefoucauld, daughter of Casimir-Jean Charles, he had is also said to have had issue:

(X2.1) Suzanne Beauclerk; married Jean Nolasque, Marquess of Noves and Count of Mimet.

He inherited Burford House, Windsor and Bestwood Park from his father in 1726. His mother occupied Burford House until 1742. From 1728-30 he leased Tidworth House (Wilts) and from 1730-34 Crawley Court (Hants). Later, he seems to have lived chiefly at Cranbourne Lodge, which came with his role as Warden of Windsor Forest, and which he refurbished and altered in 1733-35. As Governor of Windsor Castle he also had rooms in the Round Tower. 

He died at his house in St James' Place, Westminster, 27 July, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, 3 August 1751; administration of his goods was granted 17 August 1751. His widow died 12 November 1752, and was also buried in Westminster Abbey.

* A double wedding with his younger brother, who married his wife's younger sister.

3rd Duke of St. Albans
Image: Philip Mould Ltd.

Beauclerk, George (1730-86), 3rd Duke of St. Albans. Only son of Charles Beauclerk (1696-1751), 2nd Duke of St. Albans, and his wife Lucy, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir John Werden, 2nd bt., of Burton Hall (Ches.), Leyland (Lancs) and Holyport (Berks), born 25 June 1730. Educated at Eton, 1742-48. He was styled Earl of Burford until he succeeded his father as 3rd Duke of St. Albans, Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, and Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery, 27 July 1751. Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1751-60, 1771-86; a Lord of the Bedchamber, 1751; High Steward of Windsor, 1751. He carried the sword of state at the installation of the Prince of Wales, 1771. He leased the site of Durham House in London to the Adam brothers, where they constructed the Adelphi development. He married, 23 December 1752 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), Jane (d. 1778)*, daughter and co-heir of Sir Walter Roberts, 6th bt., of Glassenbury Park (Kent), but they separated and had no legitimate issue. His later life was chaotic, probably as a result of a gambling addiction, and he twice had to flee abroad to avoid his creditors. According to an 'epitaph' published in the Duke's lifetime by Sir Herbert Croft he was: "Immersed in Dissipation, knew not an inclination/ Which he forebore to gratify/ Contempt and Wretchedness/ Closed the train of Dishonour, Riot and Sensuality/  He lamented his Mistake, without reforming his Conduct/ And having lived a tyrannical Husband and an insincere Friend/  Died an Exile, and a Mendicant". The mothers of his illegitimate children are not known with certainty, although his son George was evidently the child of Molly, a Windsor dairymaid with whom he eloped to Paris, and he lived for a time with a mistress, perhaps originally his kitchen maid, and four illegitimate children in a castle near Brussels, where he was eventually arrested for unpaid debts and forced by the authorities  to leave for ‘indecent living’. His known illegitimate children were:

(X1) A son (1748-59), born 1748; died young, 30 January 1759;

(X2) George Beauclerk (1755-56), born in Paris (France), 20 December 1755; died 11 October 1756;

(X3) Anne Amelie Beauclerk (1756-1826), born in Brussels (Belgium), 5 December 1756; married, 30 October 1781 at Brussels, Simon Fromont (1752-1823) of Brussels (Belgium); died at Pont-à-Mousson (France), 3 November 1826;

(X4) A son (1757-58), born September 1757; evidently the child he sired by his kitchen maid**; died in infancy, February 1758;

(X5) twin, (Mariette Victoire) Rose Beauclerk (1758-1829), born in Brussels, 1 December 1758; married, 7 January 1787 at Brussels, Hubert Offhuys, advocate, of Brussels (Belgium), and had issue one daughter; died at Pont-à-Mousson (France), 5 August 1829;

(X6) twin, Marie Agnes Beauclerk (b. 1758), born in Brussels, 1 December 1758; probably died young and certainly before her father wrote his will in 1785.

He inherited Burford House, Windsor and Bestwood Park from his father in 1751. He sold Burford House to King George III in 1779; Bestwood, which was entailed, passed to his first cousin once removed. On his marriage he acquired a life interest in estates in Kent and Surrey and three manors in Leicestershire absolutely. He lived latterly at the Château d'Indevelde (also known as Het Cattenhuys) at Eppegem near Brussels.

He died in Brussels (Belgium), 1 February 1786, when his peerages passed to his first cousin, once removed, George Beauclerk (1758-87) (q.v.); he was buried in the Duke of Ormond's vault in King Henry VII's chapel at Westminster Abbey, 11 March 1786; his will was proved in the PCC, 10 May 1786. His wife died 16 December 1778 and was buried at Cranbrook (Kent); her will was proved in the PCC, 13 February 1779.

* His wife brought him an immense portion, variously estimated at £125,000 or £150,000, but after their separation she regained control of this money and bequeathed it to her own kin.

** Horace Walpole recorded in a letter of 9 February 1758, 'The simple Duke of St. Albans, who is retired to Brussels for debt, has made a most sumptuous funeral in public for a dab of five months old that he had by his cookmaid'.

Beauclerk, Lord William (1698-1733). Second son of Charles Beauclerk (1670-1726), 1st Duke of St. Albans, and his wife Lady Diana de Vere (d. 1742), eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, born 22 May 1698. Educated at Eton (admitted 1707). An officer in the army (Lt., 1716; Capt., 1721); MP for Chichester, 1724-33. Vice-Chamberlain of the Household to Queen Caroline, 1728-32. He married, 13 December 1722 at Bray (Berks)*, Charlotte (d. 1770), second daughter and co-heir of Sir John Werden, 2nd bt., of Burton Hall  (Ches.), Leyland (Lancs) and Holyport (Berks), and had issue:

(1) Charlotte Beauclerk (1723-93); married, 22 December 1744 at Great Stanmore (Middx), John Drummond (1723-74) of Stanmore, banker and MP for Thetford, 1768-74, son of Andrew Drummond, banker, and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 7 March 1793 and was buried at Great Stanmore, where she is commemorated by a monument; will proved in the PCC, 28 March 1793;

(2) William Beauclerk (1726-38), born 26 May 1726; educated at Eton; died 28 November and was buried at Bray (Berks), 2 December 1728;

(3) Charles Beauclerk (c.1727-75) (q.v.);

(4) Caroline Beauclerk (1728-69), born 14 December 1728 and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 11 January 1729; married, 23 February 1756, Lt-Gen. Sir William Draper KB (1721-87) (who m2, Elizabeth March, but sep. from her in India in 1773), but had no issue; buried at St Augustine-the-Less, Bristol, 19 August 1769;

(5) Ann Beauclerk (b. 1731), born 24 April and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 14 May 1731; probably died in infancy.

His widow inherited the 16,000 acre Werden family estate in Cheshire, Lancashire and Berkshire on the death of her father in 1758.

He died at Bath (Som.), 23 February 1732/3, and was buried at Westminster Abbey with his father, 2 March 1733. His widow died 3 July 1770 and was buried in Westminster Abbey; her will was proved in the PCC, 7 July 1770.

* A double wedding with his elder brother, who married his wife's elder sister.

Beauclerk, Charles (c.1728-75). Second son of Lord William Beauclerk (1698-1733) and his wife Charlotte, second daughter and co-heir of Sir John Werden, 2nd bt., of Cholmondeston (Ches.), Leyland (Lancs) and Holyport (Berks), born about 1727. Page of Honour to HRH the Duke of Cumberland, 1740. An officer in the army (Capt., 1763; Capt-Lt-Col. 1767); Governor of Pendennis Castle (Cornw.), 1774-75. He married, 1753 (licence, 3 July) in Ireland, Elizabeth Jones (d. 1768) of Kilkenny, and had issue:

(1) George Beauclerk (1758-87), 4th Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(2) William Beauclerk (b. & d. 1763), born 17 May and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster (Middx), 9 June 1763; died in infancy and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields, 23 June 1763.

He inherited the Werden family estates from his mother in 1770.

He died 30 August and was buried at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 1 September 1775; his will was proved in the PCC, 15 September 1775. His wife died 5 December 1768.

Beauclerk, George (1758-87), 4th Duke of St. Albans. Only surviving child of Charles Beauclerk (c.1727-75) and his wife Elizabeth Jones, born 5 December 1758 and baptised at Berwick-upon-Tweed (Northbld), 2 January 1759. An officer in the 3rd Foot Guards (Ensign, 1775; Capt-Lt., 1778), who served in the American War of Independence. He succeeded his first cousin once removed as 4th Duke of St. Albans, Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, and Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery, 1 February 1786. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited the Werden family estates from his father in 1775, but bequeathed them to his father's elder sister. He inherited the entailed Bestwood Lodge estate from the 3rd Duke in 1786, and at his death this passed to his father's cousin, the 5th Duke.

He died 10 February 1787, when his peerages passed to his first cousin, once removed, Aubrey Beauclerk (1740-1802), 2nd Baron Vere of Hanworth (q.v.); his will was proved in the PCC, 23 February 1787.

Adm. the 1st Baron Vere of Hanworth 

Beauclerk, Admiral Lord Vere (1699-1781), 1st Baron Vere of Hanworth. Third son of Charles Beauclerk (1670-1726), 1st Duke of St. Albans, and his wife Lady Diana (d. 1742), eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, born 14 July 1699. An officer in the Royal Navy from about 1713 (Lt., 1717; Capt., 1721; Rear-Adm. 1745; Vice-Adm., 1746; Adm. 1748; ret. 1749); Navy Commissioner, 1732-38; a Lord of the Admiralty, 1738-42, 1744-49; he resigned all of his naval appointments in a huff after Admiral Lord Anson, technically his junior, was appointed Vice-Admiral of Great Britain in preference to him. Whig MP for Windsor, 1726-41 and for Plymouth, 1741-50. He was raised to the peerage in recognition of his naval and parliamentary service as Baron Vere of Hanworth, 28 March 1750. Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, 1761-71. He married, 13 April 1736 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), Mary (d. 1783), elder daughter and co-heir of Thomas Chambers, by his wife Mary, daughter of Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, and had issue:

(1) Vere Beauclerk (1736-39), born 12 January and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 5 February 1735/6; died young, 26 December and was buried at Hanworth, 28 December 1739;

(2) Chambers Beauclerk (1738-47), born 22 February and baptised at St James Piccadilly, Westminster, 29 March 1738; educated at Westminster School; died young at Buxton (Derbys), 16 July 1747;

(3) Sackville Beauclerk (b. & d. 1739), born 12 April and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 21 April 1739; died in infancy, 25 April 1739, and was buried at Hanworth;

(4) Aubrey Beauclerk (1740-1802), 2nd Baron Vere of Hanworth and 5th Duke of Albans (q.v.);

(5) Elizabeth Beauclerk (1741-46), born 7 July and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 16 July 1741; died young and was buried at Hanworth, 26 April 1746;

(6) Hon. Mary Beauclerk (1743-1812), born 4 December and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 31 December 1743; married, 2 October 1762 at Hanworth, Lord Charles Spencer MP (1740-1820) of Wheatfield (Oxon), and had issue three sons; died 31 January and was buried at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 7 February 1812.

He inherited Hanworth Park (Middx) in right of his wife on the death of her father in 1736. Both he and his wife inherited £30,000 of stock under the will of Lady Betty Germaine in 1769, and his wife received a further legacy of £20,000 from the same source.

He died 2 October and was buried at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 6 October 1781; his will was proved in the PCC, 11 October 1781. His widow died 21 January and was buried at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 11 February 1783; her will was proved in the PCC, 11 March 1783.

5th Duke of St. Albans 

Beauclerk, Aubrey (1740-1802), 2nd Baron Vere of Hanworth and 5th Duke of St. Albans. Fourth but only surviving son of Admiral Lord Vere Beauclerk (1699-1781), 1st Baron Vere of Hanworth and his wife Mary, elder daughter and co-heir of Thomas Chambers, born 3 June and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 19 June 1740. Educated at Westminster and Queen's College, Oxford (matriculated 1758). MP for Thetford, 1761-68 and for Aldborough (Yorks), 1768-74; he was initially selected for Thetford as a Tory, but transferred his allegiance to the Whigs after his marriage in 1763. His wife's connections provided him with a fine entrée to the highest level of Whig politics, but his passion was less for politics than for field sports and horse racing, and for the fine arts, and he seems never to have spoken in Parliament. He lived for a time in Rome from the later 1770s, partly because he and his wife were 'so in debt they found it troublesome staying at home', partly to study art and collect pictures, drawings, marbles, bas-reliefs, bronzes and ivories, and partly to escape tiresome and probably unfounded rumours that his wife was having an affair with their close friend Thomas Brand (1749-94) of The Hoo, Welwyn (Herts), who went with them to Italy. Beauclerk and Brand jointly financed the excavation of an ancient Roman site at Centrocelle, and he had himself and his family painted by fashionable Italian artists, so his financial position cannot have been too desperate. He was styled The Hon. Aubrey Beauclerk from 1750-81, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Vere of Hanworth; and in 1787 he also succeeded his first cousin once removed as 5th Duke of St. Albans, Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, and Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery; the latter position lapsing on his death, together with a grant of £1,000 a year made by Queen Anne in 1703. After his wife's death, he brought his pictures and other collections together at his town house in Mansfield St., Westminster, and he therefore lost very little in the fire which totally destroyed Hanworth Palace and the adjacent church in 1797. In order to pay for its rapid rebuilding, however, a large part of his art collection, including works inherited from his father and father-in-law, was sold at auction in 1798. Rather surprisingly, within three years he was buying art again, spending over £2,000 at the auction of Lord Bessborough's collection in 1801. He married, 4 May 1763 at her father's house in Cavendish Sq., St. Marylebone (Middx), Lady Catherine (1742-89), elder daughter of William Ponsonby (1704-93), 2nd Earl of Bessborough, and had issue:

(1) Lady Catherine Elizabeth Beauclerk (1764-1803), born 20 February and baptised at St. Marylebone, 19 March 1764; managed her father's household after the death of her mother and was his residuary legatee, in which capacity she sold much of the collection of pictures he had purchased at the Earl of Bessborough's sale (at a loss); married, 1 September 1802 in Paris (France), Rev. James Burgess (1765-1827), vicar of Hanworth (Middx), 1805-16, son of Rev. James Burgess, but had no issue; died in Italy and was buried there, 12 July 1803;

(2) Aubrey Beauclerk (1765-1815), 6th Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(3) William Beauclerk (1766-1825), 8th Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(4) Lady Caroline Beauclerk (1769-1838), born 6 February and baptised at St Marylebone (Middx), 7 March 1769; married, 16 February 1797 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Hon. Charles Lawrence Dundas (1771-1810), MP for Malton, 1798-1805 and Richmond (Yorks), 1806-10, fourth son of Sir Thomas Dundas, 2nd bt. and later 1st Baron Dundas, and had issue one son and three daughters; died 23 November 1838; will proved in the PCC, 22 December 1838;

(5) Admiral Lord Amelius Beauclerk (1771-1846) [for whom, see my forthcoming post on the Beauclerk family of Winchfield House];

(6) Rev. Lord Frederick Beauclerk (1773-1850) [for whom, see my forthcoming post on the Beauclerk family of Winchfield House];

(7) Lady Georgiana Gertrude Beauclerk (1776-91), born 18 September and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 12 October 1776; died young, 17 October, and was buried at Hanworth, 27 October 1791.

He inherited Hanworth Palace from his mother in 1783 and Bestwood Park from his first cousin once removed in 1787. Hanworth Palace was leased from 1793 and he bought a smaller house called Hampton Deep nearby as a country retreat. In 1797 Hanworth Palace burned down except for the stable block, and he built a new but much smaller house on the site, which was largely completed by his death.

He died 9 February 1802 and was buried at Hanworth; his will was proved in the PCC, 10 March 1802. His wife died of breast cancer, 4 September 1789 and was also buried at Hanworth; administration of her goods was granted in August 1793.

6th Duke of St. Albans, by   
Lemuel Francis Abbott 

Beauclerk, Aubrey (1765-1815), 6th Duke of St. Albans. Eldest son of Aubrey Beauclerk (1740-1802), 2nd Baron Vere of Hanworth and 5th Duke of St Albans, and his wife Lady Catherine, daughter of William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough, born 21 August 1765. He was in Italy with his parents, 1779-81 and apparently returned to Rome in 1782-83, although by then he was an officer in the army (Ensign, 1781; Capt. 1783; Major, 1789; Lt-Col., 1789; retired 1794). A Whig in politics, he was MP for Kingston-upon-Hull, 1790-96, but never spoke in the House; indeed, he was out of the country with his regiment for a substantial part of his term. He was styled Earl of Burford, 1787-1802, when he succeeded his father as 6th Duke of St Albans and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, but did not inherit the position of Registrar of the Court of Chancery, which lapsed on his father's death. He married 1st, 9 July 1788 at Mayfair Chapel, Curzon St., Westminster (Middx),  Jane (1766-1800), daughter of John Moses of Hull, and 2nd, 15 August 1802 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Grace Louisa (1777-1816)*, fourth daughter of John Manners of Grantham Grange (Lincs), and had issue:

(1.1) Lady Mary Beauclerk (1791-1845), born at Hanworth, 30 March 1791; heiress to her mother's personal estate of £100,000, which made her a tempting target for fortune hunters; she eventually eloped with and married, 24 June 1811 at Gretna Green, as his second wife, George William Coventry (1784-1843), Lord Deerhurst (from 1831, 8th Earl of Coventry), from whom she was separated c.1815, and had issue one son and one daughter; lived subsequently in Italy with her daughter; died suddenly of a stroke at Naples, 11 September 1845;

(2.1) Aubrey Beauclerk (1815-16), 7th Duke of St. Albans, born 7 April 1815; succeeded his father as 7th Duke of St Albans and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, 12 August 1815; died in infancy of a fever, 19 February 1816 (three hours before his mother), and was buried with his mother at Hanworth, 11 March 1816.

He inherited Bestwood Park and the Hanworth estate from his father in 1802. Much of the Hanworth property was sold off in 1811. At his death the entailed estate at Bestwood passed to his son, and on his death a few months later, reverted to his younger brother. His unentailed property, including the house at Hanworth, passed to his widow and on her death, passed under her will to her sister, Mrs. Laura Dalrymple.

He died of a stroke, 12 August and was buried at Hanworth (Middx), 19 August 1815. His first wife died (as Countess of Burford) at St Paul's Waldenbury (Herts), 18 August 1800. His widow died of the same fever as her son, 19 February, and was buried with her son at Hanworth, 11 March 1816.

* Lady Harriet Cavendish called her 'a very great beauty' and Joseph Nollekens found her 'extremely good-natured', but after the Duke's death, strong suspicions arose that she was having an affair with the future Sir George Sinclair, and even that her son was the product of this relationship. The accusations to this effect by the 6th Duke's younger brothers led her to bequeath the property she had inherited from her husband away from the Beauclerk family.

8th Duke of St. Albans as a midshipman 
in the Royal Navy, by George Romney, c.1784 

Beauclerk, William (1766-1825), 8th Duke of St. Albans. Second son of Aubrey Beauclerk (1740-1802), 2nd Baron Vere of Hanworth and 5th Duke of St Albans, and his wife Lady Catherine, daughter of William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough, born 18 December 1766 and baptised at St. Marylebone, 14 January 1767. An officer in the Royal Navy (Midshipman, 1782; Lt., 1788; Cdr., 1822). High Sheriff of Denbighshire, 1803, and of Lincolnshire, 1808. He was styled Lord William Beauclerk, 1787-1816, when he succeeded his nephew as 8th Duke of St Albans and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England. He married 1st, 21 July 1791 at Gautby (Lincs), Charlotte (1769-97), daughter and heir of Rev. Robert Carter Thelwall of Redbourne Hall (Lincs), and 2nd, 5 March 1799 at Little Grimsby (Lincs), Maria Janetta (d. 1822), only daughter and heir of John Nelthorpe of Little Grimsby Hall, and had issue:

(1.1) William Robert Beauclerk (b. & d. 1794), born 11 May 1794; died in infancy, 13 May 1794;

(2.1) Lady Maria Amelia Beauclerk (1800-73), born 11 May and baptised at Redbourne, 18 May 1800; epileptic, who was a patient at Ticehurst Mental Hospital from 1851; died unmarried at Ticehurst (Sussex), 9 July 1873; administration of her goods granted 29 July 1873 (effects under £12,000);

(2.2) William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1801-49), 9th Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(2.3) Lady Charlotte Beauclerk (1802-42), born 4 April and was baptised at Redbourne, 18 April 1802; died unmarried, 12 August. and was buried at Highgate Cemetery, 18 August 1842;

(2.4) Julia Catherine Beauclerk (b. & d. 1803), born about April 1803; died in infancy and was buried at Redbourne, 17 August 1803;

(2.5) Lady Caroline Janetta Beauclerk (1804-62), born in London, 28 June 1804; married, 14 July 1825 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), Arthur Algernon Capell (1803-92), 6th Earl of Essex (who m2, 3 Jun 1863, Lady Louisa Caroline Elizabeth (1833-76), daughter of Richard Edmund St. Lawrence Boyle, 9th Earl of Cork and had further issue one son and one daughter, and who m3, 25 April 1881, Louisa Elizabeth (d. 1914), second daughter of Charles Fieschi Heneage and widow of Gen. Lord George Augustus Frederick Paget KCB (1818-80)), and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 22 August 1862;

(2.6) John Nelthorpe Beauclerk (1805-10), born 3 December and baptised at Redbourne, 18 December 1805; died young of scarlet fever, 4 August, and was buried at Hanworth (Middx);

(2.7) Lady Louisa Georgiana Beauclerk (1806-43), born 20 December 1806 and baptised at Redbourne, 4 January 1807; married, 28 December 1835 at the British Embassy in Munich (Germany), Thomas Hughan (1811-79) (who m2, c.1868, Louisa Senhouse (1829-1900), daughter of Forster Clarke) of Airds House (Kirkcudbrights.) and had issue three daughters; died 18 February 1843;

(2.8) Capt. Lord Frederick Charles Peter Beauclerk (1808-65) [for whom see the forthcoming post on the Beauclerk family of Little Grimsby];

(2.9) Lady Georgiana Beauclerk (1809-80), born 11 September 1809; married, 10 February 1829 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Sir Montague John Cholmeley MP (1802-74), 2nd bt., of Norton Place (Lincs), and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 8 January 1880; administration of her goods was granted 10 March 1880 (effects under £2,000);

(2.10) Lady Mary Noel Beauclerk (1810-50), born 28 December 1810 and baptised at Redbourne, 7 January 1811; married, 15 December 1836 at Easton (Lincs), Thomas George Corbett (1796-1868) of Elsham Hall (Lincs), and had issue two daughters; died 29 November 1850;

(2.11) Lord Henry Beauclerk (1812-56), born 23 June and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 12 July 1812; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1830; Lt., 1833; ret. 1837); his retirement from the army followed an attack of 'brain fever' which required him to be restrained, and he was admitted to Ticehurst Mental Hospital, 16 March 1852; died unmarried, 22 January and was buried at Highgate Cemetery (Middx), 30 January 1856;

(2.12) Lord Charles Beauclerk (1813-61), born 10 October and baptised at Redbourne, 1 November 1813; an officer in the army (Ensign, 1832; Lt., 1836; Capt., 1839; retired 1842) and later in Northumberland Militia (Maj., 1857); a series of his sketches of military operations in Canada were engraved and published in 1840; lived at Riding House (Northumbld); married, 7 September 1842 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, Laura Maria Theresa (c.1825-58), daughter and heiress of Col. Edward Stopford, HM Ambassador to Spain, and had issue five sons and four daughters (from whom the 13th and present Dukes are descended); died from injuries received while trying to rescue a lifeboat crew in a storm in Scarborough harbour, 2 November 1861, and was buried at Scarborough (Yorks NR); administration of his goods granted 4 September 1862 and 29 May 1896 (effects under £1,000); 

(2.13) Lord Amelius Wentworth Beauclerk (1815-79), born 16 August and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 27 August 1815; educated at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; joined Royal Navy in 1830 (Lt., 1841; Cdr., 1846; Capt., 1864; ret. 1864); JP for Suffolk; lived at Leiston Hall (Suffk); married, 27 July 1853 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Frances Maria (1834-1910) (who m2, 2 January 1884 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, Lt-Gen. John Walpole D'Oyly (1821-97)), only daughter and heiress of Charles Mathew Harrison of London, and had issue three sons and four daughters; died in London, 24 March 1879; will proved 1 May 1879 (effects under £70,000);

(2.14) Lord George Augustus Beauclerk (1818-80), born 14 December and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster, 28 December 1818; educated at Charterhouse; an officer in the army (Cornet, 1838; Lt., 1841; Capt., 1844; Maj., 1853; retired, 1857), who served in the Crimean War; died unmarried, 3 January 1880; will proved 28 January 1880 (effects under £20,000).

He inherited Bestwood Park from his father in 1815. He also inherited Redbourne Hall in right of his first wife and Little Grimsby Hall in right of his second wife. He rented the Upper Gatton estate in Surrey.

He died 17 July 1825 and was buried at Redbourne; his will was proved in the PCC, 8 November 1825. His first wife died 19 October 1797. His second wife died 17 January 1822.

Beauclerk, William Aubrey de Vere (1801-49), 9th Duke of St. Albans. Eldest son of William Beauclerk (1766-1825), 8th Duke of St. Albans and his second wife, Maria Janetta, only daughter and heir of John Nelthorpe of Little Grimsby Hall (Lincs), born 24 March and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 11 May 1801. He was styled Earl of Burford from 1815-25, when he succeeded his father as 9th Duke of St Albans and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England. He was the bearer of the sceptre with the cross at the coronation of William IV, 1830. Although he received an honorary degree from Cambridge University (LLD, 1828), he was widely regarded as lacking in intelligence, and he was uninterested in public affairs. In the 1840s he suffered from deteriorating eyesight and from epileptic fits resulting from a hunting accident. He married 1st, 16 June 1827 at 1 Stratton St., Westminster, Harriot (1777-1837), a former actress, probably the daughter of Lt. Matthew Mellon of the Madras Infantry, and widow and principal heiress of Thomas Coutts, banker*; and 2nd, 29 May 1839 at Harby (Leics), Elizabeth Catherine (1813-93), youngest daughter of Maj-Gen. Joseph Gubbins of Stoneham (Hants) and Kilfrush (Co. Limerick), and had issue:

(2.1) William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1840-98), 10th Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(2.2) Lady Diana de Vere Beauclerk (1841-1905), born 10 December 1841 and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 11 January 1842; there were rumours of her engagement to the Prince of Orange in 1863, but this was opposed by Queen Victoria and she eventually married, 18 December 1872, the Hon. Sir John Walter Huddleston QC MP (1815-90), last Baron of the Exchequer, of The Grange, Ascot (Berks), youngest son of Thomas Huddleston, an officer in the Merchant Navy, but had no issue; died in London, 1 April 1905 and was buried at Bestwood; will proved 14 June 1905 (estate £83,468).

After the death of his first wife, he is said to have seduced a servant girl by whom he had issue a daughter:

(X1.1) Charlotte? [Beauclerk] (b. 1839), born 19 July 1839; married and had issue.

He inherited Bestwood Park and Redbourne Hall from his father in 1825. His first wife gave him £30,000 and and an estate at Woodham Walter (Essex) on their marriage, and left him a life interest in Holly Lodge, Highgate (Middx) and 80 Piccadilly, Westminster, and an annuity of £10,000 a year. His second wife brought him a dowry of £15,000.

He died in London, 27 May 1849 and was buried at Highgate Cemetery; he is commemorated by a monument there, and by another at Redbourne; his will was proved 14 July 1849. His first wife died 6 August 1837 and is also commemorated by a monument at Redbourne; her will was proved in the PCC (estate under £600,000)**, though most of this vast estate was left to her step-granddaughter, Angela Burdett-Coutts. His widow married 2nd, 10 November 1859 at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge (Middx), as his second wife, Lucius Bentinck Cary (1803-84), 1st Baron Hunsdon and 10th Viscount Falkland, and died 2 December 1893.

* Although there seems to have been a genuine fondness between the couple, it was essentially a marriage of convenience, in which the Duke gained access to his wife's fortune and she gained the social kudos of his title, although much of fashionable society still refused to receive her because of her low birth and acting career.

** Not £900,000 as claimed in the press, or £1.8m as stated in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

10th Duke of St. Albans.
Image: National Portrait Gallery 

Beauclerk, Rt. Hon. William Amelius Aubrey de Vere (1840-98), 10th Duke of St. Albans. Only son of William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1801-49), 9th Duke of St. Albans, and his second wife, Elizabeth Catherine, youngest daughter of Maj-Gen. Joseph Gubbins of Stoneham (Hants) and Kilfrush (Co. Limerick), born 15 April and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 23 May 1840. He was styled Earl of Burford until 1849, when he succeeded his father as 10th Duke of St Albans and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1860), and undertook a tour of Italy with his mother, 1859; on this and later European journeys he collected works of art and bibelots to furnish Bestwood Lodge (some of which were lost in the fire there in 1885, in which many family papers were also destroyed). He was a Whig in politics and served as Captain of the Yeoman of the Guard (Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords), 1868-74, being appointed to the Privy Council in 1869. Later, he fell out with Gladstone over the latter's Home Rule policy and in 1886 he joined the Unionists; it was presumably because of his displeasure with Gladstone that he turned down the Order of the Garter in 1885. In local government he was Hon. Col. of 1st Nottinghamshire Rifle Volunteers, 1868; a JP and DL for Lincolnshire (from 1860); a member of Nottinghamshire County Council, 1889-98, and Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, 1880-98. In the 1870s, he developed Bestwood Colliery on the estate, the profits from which effectively substituted for the income his father had enjoyed from the Coutts banking fortune. He was a member of the Jockey Club, 1863-98, and encouraged cricket on his estate, but his principal sporting interest was in yachting, and he was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, 1862-98. He also shared literary interests with his second wife, and commissioned Philip Bagenal to write a biography of his father-in-law, published under his name as The life of R.B. Osborne (1884). He was described as 'a cheery, sensible, steady, kind-hearted man of business'; middle-class values which he combined with aristocratic interests in a rather modern way. He married 1st, 20 June 1867 in the Chapel Royal at St James' Palace, London, Sybil Mary (1848-71), eldest daughter of Lt-Gen. the Hon. Charles Grey, private secretary to HM Queen Victoria; and 2nd, 3 January 1874, Grace (1848-1926), younger daughter but sole heiress of Sir Ralph Bernal (later Bernal Osborne) (1808-82), MP, and had issue:

(1.1) Lady Louise de Vere Beauclerk (1869-1958), born 12 April 1869; goddaughter of HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll; inherited the Regency furniture from Redbourne Hall; married, 25 October 1890, Gerald Walter Erskine Loder (1861-1938), 1st Baron Wakehurst, son of Sir Robert Loder, and had issue one son and four daughters; lived latterly at Stapleton House, Martock (Som.); died 15 December 1958; will proved 29 April 1959 (estate £4,672);

(1.2) Charles Victor Albert Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1870-1934), 11th Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(1.3) Lady Sybil Evelyn de Vere Beauclerk (1871-1910), born 21 August  and baptised at Holy Trinity, Brompton (Middx), 6 September 1871; married, 4 November 1899 at Holy Trinity, Chelsea (Middx), Maj. William Frank Lascelles (1863-1913), elder son of Rt. Hon. Sir Frank Cavendish Lascelles GCB GCMG GCVO, diplomat, and had issue two daughters; died 20 September 1910 and was buried at Bestwood; administration of goods granted 3 November 1910 (estate £670);

(2.1) Osborne de Vere Beauclerk (1874-1964), 12th Duke of St. Albans (q.v.);

(2.2) Lady Moyra de Vere Beauclerk (1876-1942), born 20 January and baptised at Bestwood, 27 February 1876; married, 30 July 1895 at Bestwood, Lord Richard Frederick Cavendish MP (1871-1946), second son of Lord Edward Cavendish, and had issue one son and four daughters; died 7 February and was buried at Flookburgh (Lancs), 9 February 1942; will proved 26 May 1942 (estate £14,157);

(2.3) Lady Katherine de Vere Beauclerk (1877-1958), born 25 May and baptised at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), 21 June 1877; married 1st, 23 January 1896 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (div. 1920), Henry Charles Somers Augustus Somerset (1874-1945) of Reigate Priory (Surrey), author, son of the Rt. Hon. Lord Henry Richard Charles Somerset, and had issue three sons; married 2nd, 22 April 1921 at Westminster Registry Office, Maj-Gen. Sir William Lambton KCB CMG CVO DSO (1863-1936); died at her home in France, 31 January 1958; will proved 3 September 1958 (estate in England, £5,533);

(2.4) Lady Alexandra de Vere Beauclerk (1878-1935), born 5 July 1878; died unmarried, 16 April 1935, and was buried at Bestwood; administration of her goods was granted 16 September 1935 (estate £9,144).

(2.5) Lord William Huddleston de Vere Beauclerk (1883-1954), born 16 August 1883; educated at Eton, where he set fire to a building; "a bachelor of somewhat limited intellect", who became mentally ill and was confined in institutions; died unmarried at The Priory, Roehampton (Surrey), 25 December 1954; administration of his goods was granted 2 April 1954 (estate £3,841).

He inherited Bestwood Park, Redbourne Hall and Woodham Walter from his father in 1849 and came of age in 1861. He sold Woodham Walter and the part of the Redbourne estate at Pickworth (Lincs) and used the proceeds to build Bestwood Lodge to the designs of S.S. Teulon in 1862-65 and to enlarge it in the 1870s; a further remodelling took place after a severe fire in 1885, which destroyed the original drawing room. His second wife inherited Newtown Anner (Co. Tipperary) from her mother in 1880.

He died at the home of a friend at Brooke House, Brightstone (Isle of Wight), 10 May 1898, and was buried at Bestwood; his will was proved 24 May 1898 (effects £9,753). His first wife died following childbirth, 7 September 1871, and was buried at Alnwick (Northbld). His widow died 18 November 1926; her will was proved 6 April 1927 (estate £16,166).

11th Duke of St. Albans 

Beauclerk, Charles Victor Albert Aubrey de Vere (1870-1934), 11th Duke of St. Albans. Only son of Rt. Hon. William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1840-98), 10th Duke of St. Albans, and his first wife, Sybil Mary, eldest daughter of Lt-Gen. the Hon. Charles Grey, born 26 March and baptised 10 May 1870. Godson of HM Queen Victoria and HM King Edward VII. Educated at Eton. He was an officer in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) (2nd Lt., 1888; Lt., 1889). His appointment to a 2nd Lieutenancy in the 1st Life Guards was gazetted in June 1893 but cancelled in September. He was an officer in the South Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (2nd Lt., 1894; Capt., 1898; retired 1900). He was styled Earl of Burford until 1898, when he succeeded his father as 11th Duke of St Albans and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England.  However, he suffered from severe depression and paranoid delusions, and was confined as a patient in a small house in the grounds of Ticehurst House Hospital (Sussex), 1899-1934. He was unmarried and without issue.

He inherited Bestwood Park and Redbourne Hall from his father in 1898, but his affairs were managed by trustees, who leased Bestwood Lodge from 1915 and sold the 5,412 acre Redbourne estate for £106,030 in June 1917.

He died 19 September 1934 and was buried at Bestwood; administration of his goods was granted 27 April and 19 May 1935 (estate £173,159).

12th Duke of St. Albans 

Beauclerk, Osborne de Vere (1874-1964), 12th Duke of St. Albans. Eldest son of Rt. Hon. William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1840-98), 10th Duke of St. Albans, and his second wife, Grace, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Ralph Bernal Osborne MP, born at Newtown Anner (Co. Tipperary), 16 October 1874. Educated at Eton. An officer in 17th Lancers (2nd Lt., 1895; Lt., 1896; Capt. 1901; retired 1902), who served in the Boer War; later an officer in the South Nottinghamshire Hussars (Maj., 1904). After leaving the army, he travelled extensively in Persia, Russia, Tibet, and the Middle and Far East, partly for game shooting, and a shared interest in this part of the globe brought him the friendship of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (d. 1922). In 1911-13 he travelled in British Columbia (Canada),  where he was involved in an unsuccessful gold mining project at Cassiar; and went camping with Warburton Mayer Pike (1861-1915) and Marshall Latham Bond (1867-1941). In the First World War, he acted as ADC to Field Marshal the Earl Haig, and in the Second, he joined the Home Guard. High Sheriff of Co. Waterford, 1920 and DL for Co. Waterford, 1920-22. He was styled Lord Osborne Beauclerk until 1934, when he succeeded his half-brother as 12th Duke of St. Albans and Hereditary Grand Falconer of England. Wilfrid Blunt thought him 'without pretension and [he] has a kindly heart', but others would have disagreed. He could exhibit great charm, wit, and intelligence when he chose, but was more often snobbish, haughty and verbally cruel, and he was habitually indolent. His inconsistency of manner meant that he had few close friends. The worlds of politics and business bored him, and his finances—already weakened by his brother’s long period of ill-health—gradually declined. As he became older, he took pleasure in behaving perversely and building a reputation for eccentricity. In 1953 he sought permission to attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by a live falcon, as a mark of his position as Grand Falconer, but when this was refused he declined to attend at all. He married, 19 August 1918 at St Thomas' chapel, Taney (Co. Dublin), Lady Beatrix Frances GBE DGStJ (1877-1953), second daughter of Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne and widow of Henry de la Poer Beresford (1875-1911), 6th Marquess of Waterford (by whom she had had three sons and three daughters), but had no issue. As time went on, the couple lived increasingly separate lives: she in Ireland and he in London. He claimed to have had had many mistresses and many illegitimate children*, but few if any of the claims may have been true; the only mistress who can be identified with certainty is Mrs. Norah Ricardo (1880-1944), who eventually committed suicide.

He inherited Newtown Anner from his mother in 1926 and Bestwood Park from his half-brother in 1934, but lived on his capital: Bestwood was sold in 1940, and some 3,000 of the 3,500 acres at Newtown Anner was also dispersed through small sales. After his marriage he lived for a time at Curraghmore (Co. Waterford). Until 1959 his main home was a flat at 90 Piccadilly, London, which he shared with Capt. George Spencer-Churchill. After his wife's death he built a villa at Andraix near Palma in Majorca but occupied it for only seven weeks before giving it to his nephew, Robert Somerset, and returning to Ireland. In 1958 he made Newtown Anner over to his wife's relation, John Silcock, and embarked on another world tour. After returning he divided his time between a service flat in London and staying with his sister's family at Holker Hall (Cumbria), where he eventually settled permanently.

He died at Holker Hall, 2 March 1964, when his title passed to his second cousin, Charles Beauclerk (1915-88), 13th Duke of St. Albans; he was buried at Flookburgh (Lancs) and his will was proved 17 August 1964 (estate £23,885). His wife died at Newtown Anner, 5 August 1953 and was buried at Killaloan; her will was proved 2 January 1954 (estate £3,118).

* Peter Beauclerk-Dewar claimed to have identified one illegitimate child in his book on the family published in 1974.

 

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 3459-64; P. Beauclerk Dewar & D. Adamson, The house of Nell Gwyn, 1974; B. Masters, The Dukes, 3rd edn., 2001, pp. 72-77, 94-101; ODNB biography of 1st Duke of St. Albans;

https://dukesandprinces.org/2021/11/14/dukes-of-saint-albans/; 

Location of archives

Beauclerk family, Dukes of St. Albans: Redbourne estate deeds and papers, 17th-20th cents [Lincolnshire Archives RED and 2RED]; Bestwood Park estate records, 1785-1841 [Nottingham University Library, BP]; Hanworth estate deeds and papers, 17th-20th cents, legal and family papers [London Metropolitan Archives, 1005; LMA/4245; Acc/0918] 

George Beauclerk, 3rd Duke of St. Albans:  Glassenbury Park estate and household papers, 18th century [Kent Archives Centre, U410]

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 further information about the reputed illegitimate daughter of the 9th Duke and her descendants?
• 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 25 March and updated 28 March 2022.

(418) Barry of Santry Court, Barons Barry of Santry

Barry, Barons Barry of Santry

This family were almost certainly distantly related to the Barry family who played such a prominent role in the history of County Cork and were Barons Barrymore in the medieval period. They claimed descent from the 3rd Baron's fifth son, Sir Robert Barry (d. 1345), who settled  at Dungourney Castle (Co. Cork), and although not every step of the connection can be fully documented, it seems likely that Richard Barry (d. c.1648), with whom the genealogy below begins, was his six-greats grandson. At some point in the early 16th century, Richard's ancestors migrated from County Cork to become merchants in Dublin, where they grew steadily in wealth and importance. Richard's father, James, was sheriff of Dublin in 1577, and Richard himself served that office in 1604. In 1607 he became an alderman and in 1610, reached the civic pinnacle as Mayor (Dublin did not have a Lord Mayor until 1665). In the early 17th century, Richard invested his surplus capital in land, buying the Santry Court estate soon after 1608 and Tubberbunny at nearby Cloghran soon afterwards. His eldest son and heir, James Barry (1603-73), was educated for the law and his third son, William Barry (c.1608-95), entered the church, but little is known of his other sons careers. James went to Trinity College, Dublin and then to Lincoln's Inn in London, where he was called to the bar in 1628. He evidently showed great promise as a lawyer, but even so his appointment as Recorder of Dublin and King's Serjeant in Ireland in 1629, at the tender age of 26, must have owed more to his connections than his abilities. In 1634 his career progressed further, when he became Second Baron of the Exchequer and one of the assizes judges for Ireland, travelling on the Connaught circuit. In 1640 he was knighted, but in 1641, with the breakdown of law and order in Ireland, his activities were suspended. He was a Royalist and seems to have spent much of the 1640s in England (one of his sons being born in Chester in 1642), but eventually he reached an accommodation with the Commonwealth authorities, who agreed to allow him to practise law again in 1653, and even gave him a commission as an assize judge in Ulster in 1655. In 1659 he was chosen to chair the Convention which met, in defiance of the Commonwealth government, and called for the return of King Charles II, and after the king was restored to the throne he was rewarded by appointment as Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland and by being raised to a peerage as Baron Barry of Santry. The peerage title was commonly abbreviated to 'Lord Santry'.

When the 1st Lord Santry died in 1673 he was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard Barry (c.1635-94), 2nd Baron Barry of Santry, who had been educated largely in England, where he attended Oxford University and Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1666. He may thereafter have assisted his father but he seems not to have been called to the Irish bar and so probably never practised on his own account. He had a large family but of his four sons only the youngest survived him. This was Henry Barry (1680-1734), 3rd Lord Santry, who came of age in 1701 and pursued a military career about which almost nothing is known until 1710, when he became Lieutenant Colonel in the Earl of Wharton's Dragoons. This unit was disbanded in 1713, apparently for disciplinary reasons, although Lord Santry himself does not seem to have been tarnished by his association with it, for he was later appointed to the important and sensitive post of Governor of Derry City. The 3rd Baron's chief importance for this story, however, is that between his marriage in 1702 and about 1709 he pulled down the old house at Santry Court and built a much larger and more fashionable new one, and laid out elaborate formal gardens around it. His marriage produced a single son, Henry Barry (1710-51), who succeeded him as 4th Lord Santry in 1735 and over the next few years probably made major additions to the house. 

The young 4th Baron was, however, a notorious rake. He pursued a hard-drinking lifestyle and was a leading member of the Irish Hell-Fire Club, which - if the highly-coloured accounts of its activities are to be believed - got up to some very nasty things indeed. In August 1738, after a heavy day's drinking, he ran a man through with his sword. After lingering for some seven weeks, the poor fellow inconveniently died, and Lord Santry found himself facing a murder charge. He invoked his right to a trial by his peers, but they had no choice but to find him guilty, and he was sentenced to death. Since in Ireland murder was regarded as treason, the sentence also mean that he forfeited his estates and his peerage, and only the energetic activity of his friends and relations in persuading King George II to exercise his prerogative of mercy saved his neck. His creditors having been alarmed by the loss of his estates - and thus his income - they began pressing for payment, and even though his estate was eventually returned to him in 1741, his maternal uncle (and eventual heir) oversaw the passing of an Act of Parliament which vested his estate in trustees for the payment of his creditors. The Hon. Henry Barry, as he was subsequently known, lived in exile in Nottingham, in greatly reduced circumstances. He married again shortly before his death, but his widow, who died only in 1816, did not inherit his property, which passed to his uncle, Sir Compton Domvile, 2nd bt.

Santry Court, Co. Dublin

The Santry estate was acquired by Richard Barry (d. c.1648), a Dublin merchant and alderman, in the early 17th century. There was already a substantial house here by 1664, when it was taxed on eleven hearths, but nothing more is known about it before it was rebuilt in 1703-09 for the 3rd Lord Santry. The very grand building he constructed would not have looked out of place in the English home counties, but its designer - whether English or Irish - seems to be unrecorded. The house as it was built at this time consisted of a rectangular nine-by-three bay block of two storeys over an unusually high basement, and also had a dormered attic storey lurking behind the partly balustraded parapet. Both main fronts had a three-bay pedimented breakfront in the centre, with the pediment set against the parapet. On the entrance side there was grand doorcase with a segmental pediment carried on Corinthian columns, which was originally located at the basement level, though the doorcase was later moved up to the ground floor and an immense flight of steps was built to provide an external approach to it. The garden front was always plainer, and at least after 19th century alterations, had no doorcase at all, although the grand doorcase which later provided an entrance to the walled garden was probably originally on the garden front of the house. The house was probably from the first accompanied by a formal landscape, the outlines of which are shown on John Rocque's map of County Dublin in 1760.

Santry Court: entrance front in about 1900.

Santry Court: garden front after the 19th century alterations.

In the mid 18th century, the original rectangular block was enlarged by the addition of quadrant links and five-bay wings on the entrance front, giving the house a more Palladian layout. This was most probably done for the 4th Lord Santry between 1734, when he inherited the estate, and 1739, when he forfeited it on his conviction for murder (the estate was restored to him in 1741 after he was pardoned, but he lived the rest of his life in exile in England in reduced circumstances). It is also possible that the enlargement of the house only took place after 1751, when it passed to Sir Compton Domvile, 2nd bt., but it was certainly complete by 1760, when the plan, with the quadrant links and wings, is clearly shown on John Rocque's plan of County Dublin. 

Santry Court: detail of John Rocque's plan of Co. Dublin,
showing the footprint of the house and the formal avenues and canal surrounding it.

The main doorcase was moved to the piano nobile at the same time as the wings were added, in further pursuit of a Palladian appearance. The vast staircase which appears in photographs as leading up to it was almost certainly a later alteration, for John Rocque's plan seems to show a two-armed staircase in its place, but it was in place by the 1830s when it was recorded on an engraving of the house. A slight inelegance in the proportion of window to wall in the design of the facades also suggests that the fenestration was altered after the house was first built, and this probably resulted from the replacement of the original windows by sashes with architraves at the time of the other mid 18th century changes. 

Although the house underwent some changes in the later 18th century, when several rooms were evidently redecorated and the formal landscaping was swept away in favour of a more naturalistic layout, further major changes to the house did not take place until Sir C.C.W. Domvile inherited the estate in 1857. His works to the house and garden began in 1858 and continued until 1872, although shortage of funds may have made progress sporadic. The works to the house were probably designed by Sandham Symes, who is known to have supplied several sets of designs and who was seeking tenders for works to the estate buildings in 1871. They evidently included the building of two new five-bay wings on the garden front, the removal of the central doorcase on the garden side to form a the gateway into a new walled garden, and the redecoration of some of the interiors. 

Santry Court: head of the early 18th century staircase.
Image: South Dublin Libraries

The interiors combined the work of several different periods. There was a large hall, a wooden staircase with barley-sugar twist balusters, Corinthian newels and carved acanthus decoration similar to that at Mount Ievers and surely part of the original build; a dining room with plaster panels on the walls and a ceiling in low relief; and a panelled study. In 1881 the rooms were described as 'lofty and spacious... the ceilings either richly gilt, ornamented with armorial bearings, or rare engravings', and some rooms evidently had stained glass in the windows, which was no doubt a 19th century intervention. 

Alongside the remodelling of the house in the 1860s, there was a major redesign of the surrounding landscape by Ninian Niven, begun in 1857. Niven laid out a formal cour d'entrée in front of the house, a parterre with raised walks leading to an oval terrace with a jet d'eau in an oval basin, from which the older park, with its formal vistas and follies could be seen. A domed temple of about 1740 (now at Luggala in Co. Wicklow) was brought from the Domvile's original seat at Templeogue, and a bridge with balustrades and lions was built over the late 18th century lake.

Santry Court: engraving of the 1830s by Louis Haghe, showing the wide stone steps already in place.

Sir C.C.W. Domvile was the last member of his family to live in the house. In 1875, he became bankrupt, and a huge sale was held over ten days of the accumulated furnishings of the house, after which it was occupied by  Capt. G.L. Poe (1846-1934), who was a relation by marriage, and who acted as agent-in-residence. After his death, the house was first leased as a residential care home and then sold to the Irish government which intended to turn it into a mental hospital, although this did not happen because of the outbreak of the Second World War. During this emergency, the proximity of the house to Dublin airport caused it to be requisitioned by the Irish army as a security base, and the grounds were used for military training. In 1947, during military occupation, the house burned down, and after standing as a roofless shell for some years, the ruins were pulled down either in 1959 or a few years later. The fine entrance doorcase was preserved by the Office of Public Works with a view to its reuse in Dublin Castle, but in 1989 it remained in store. Today, about 70 acres of the demesne are a public park but the rest has been swallowed up by a sports stadium and the spreading housing estates of modern Dublin.

Santry Court: the ruin of the house after the fire of 1947 and before demolition. Image: South Dublin Libraries

Descent: sold to Richard Barry (d. c.1648); to son, Sir James Barry (1603-72), kt., 1st Baron Barry of Santry; to son, Richard Barry (d. 1694), 2nd Baron Barry of Santry; to Henry Barry (1680-1734), 3rd Baron Barry of Santry; to son Henry Barry (1710-51), 4th Baron Barry of Santry, who forfeited the peerage on being convicted of murder; to uncle, Sir Compton Domvile (1696-1768), 2nd bt.; to kinsman, Charles Pocklington (later Domvile) (1740-1810); to son, Sir Compton Pocklington Domvile (c.1775-1857), 1st bt.; to son, Sir Charles Compton William Domvile (1822-84), 2nd bt.; to brother, Sir William Compton Domvile (1825-84), 3rd bt.; to son, Sir Compton Meade Domvile (1857-1935), 4th bt.; to nephew, Sir Hugo Compton Domvile Poe (later Poe Domvile), 2nd bt., a person of unsound mind, whose Trustee sold it to Irish Government. After 1875, Santry was leased to Capt. George Leslie Poe RN (1846-1934), and then passed into institutional use.

Barry of Santry, Barons Barry of Santry

Barry, Richard (c.1575-1648). Second son of James Barry (d. 1598), merchant and alderman of Dublin, born about 1575. Merchant in Dublin. Alderman of Dublin from 1607 (Sheriff, 1604; Mayor 1610); MP for Dublin, 1613-15, 1634 and 1639. He married, about 1600, Anne (d. 1663), daughter and heiress of James Cusack of Rathgar (Co. Dublin), and had issue:
(1) Sir James Barry (1603-73), 1st Baron Barry of Santry (q.v.);
(2) Edward Barry (d. 1672), of Tubberbunny, Cloghran (Co. Dublin); married 1st, Susanna, daughter of Charles Foster, alderman of Dublin, and had issue four sons and one daughter; married 2nd, Eleanor Dowdall, and had further issue six sons and two daughters; died intestate, 1672;
(3) Rev. William Barry (c.1608-95); educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1626); rector and vicar of Killucan (Co. Meath), 1642-95 and vicar of Termonfeckin (Armagh), 1647-93, but lived in Dublin and no doubt served both cures with curates; married 1st, 1 January 1634, Margaret (d. 1645), daughter of Rev. Edmund Donellan, and had issue four sons and five daughters; married 2nd, 23 November 1648, Elizabeth, daughter of Kedagh Kelly, and had issue one son and nine daughters; died 30 August 1695;
(4) Thomas Barry (d. 1632); died unmarried, 31 October 1632;
(5) Humphrey Barry; married and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(6) Richard Barry (d. 1675), of Fyan's Castle, Dublin; died 7 December and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, 8 December 1675;
(7) Mary Anne Barry (d. 1635); married, as his first wife, Sir James Donelan (d. 1665), Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland and third son of Most Rev. Nehemiah Donelan, Archbishop of Tuam, and had issue four sons and two daughters; died 5 April 1635 and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin;
(8) Frances Barry (d. 1668); married Henry Kenney (d. 1650) of Kenney's Hall and Edermine (Co. Wexford) and had issue three sons and three daughters; died July 1668 and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin;
(9) Lettice Barry (d. 1637); married Alderman John Gibson of Dublin, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 22 August 1637 and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
He acquired Santry Court (soon after 1608) and Tubberbunny (Co. Dublin) and Ardrossan (Co. Kildare), but lived chiefly in Dublin.
He died in or after 1648. His widow died 21 September 1663.

Barry, Sir James (1603-73), 1st Baron Barry of Santry. Eldest son of Alderman Richard Barry (c.1575-1637) of Dublin and his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of James Cusack of Rathgar (Co. Dublin), born 1603. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1621; MA 1624), Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1621; called 1628) and King's Inns, Dublin (called 1630; Treasurer, 1635-36. 1661-64); degrees incorporated at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 1627. Barrister-at-law in England and Ireland; Recorder of Dublin and King's Serjeant-at-Laws in Ireland, 1629-34; MP for Lismore, 1634; Second Baron of the Exchequer, 1634-41, acting as an assize judge on the Connaught circuit; was superseded during the interregnum and was apparently in England for most of the period 1642-50; allowed to return to practice in Dublin, 1653 and acted as an assize judge in Ulster in 1655; Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 1660-73. He was chosen Chairman of the Dublin convention which met in defiance of the Commonwealth authorities and voted for the unconditional restoration of King Charles II, 1660. He was knighted in 1640, and for his service at the Restoration, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Barry of Santry (commonly abbreviated to Lord Santry), 18 February 1661. He married, about 1632, Catherine, daughter of Sir William Parsons, 1st bt., of Bellamont (Co. Dublin), Lord Deputy of Ireland, and had issue:
(1) Hon. Anne Barry (c.1634-81), born about 1634; married 1st, 29 May 1660 at St Michan, Dublin, Stephen Butler (d. 1662) of Belturbet (Co. Cavan), but had no surviving issue; married 2nd, Hon. Raymond FitzMaurice (d. 1713), younger son of Patrick Fitzmaurice, 19th Lord of Kerry, and had issue two sons; died March 1681;
(2) Richard Barry (c.1635-94), 2nd Baron Barry of Santry (q.v.);
(3) Hon. Elizabeth Barry (b. 1638), baptised at St Michan, Dublin, 16 February 1637/8; married, 4 October 1683, Thomas Anderton, but had no issue;
(4) Hon. Catherine Barry (1639-70), baptised at St Michan, Dublin, 7 May 1639; died unmarried, 22 September and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, 4 October 1670;
(5) Hon. James Barry* (1640-74) of Santry, baptised 10 June 1640; died unmarried, 17 November and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, 22 November 1674; will proved 25 April 1675;
(6) Hon. William Barry (b. 1642), baptised at St Peter, Chester, 9 March 1641/2; educated at Trinity College, Dublin (admitted 1660) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1662); barrister-at-law; died without issue;
(7) Hon. Thomas Barry; died without issue;
(8) Hon. Mary Barry (d. 1669); died unmarried and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, 2 April 1669.
He inherited Santry Court from his father in 1648.
He died 9 February and was buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, 14 February 1672/3. His wife's date of death is unknown.
* Burke's Irish Family Records states that he was a knight but I have found no evidence to support this: he does not appear in the lists of knights and the probate of his will described him as 'esquire'.

Barry, Richard (c.1635-94), 2nd Baron Barry of Santry. Eldest son of Sir James Barry (1603-73), 1st Baron Barry of Santry, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir William Parsons, 1st bt. of Bellamont (Co. Dublin), Lord Justice of Ireland, born about 1635. Educated at Jesus College, Oxford (matriculated 1651) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1660; called 1666). Barrister-at-law. He succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Barry of Santry, 9 February 1672/3. He was threatened with attainder by King James II in 1689 for absenting himself from the Irish Parliament, but sat in the Irish House of Lords from 1692. He married, 1660 (licence 11 September, Elizabeth (c.1644-82), daughter of Henry Jenery, a judge of the English Court of King's Bench, and had issue:
(1) Hon. James Barry (b. 1662), born 15 January 1661/2; died young;
(2) Hon. Catherine Barry (1663-1737), baptised at St Michan, Dublin, 9 May 1663; married 1st, 1682/3 (settlement 24 February), Lawrence Barry (c.1657-99), 3rd Earl of Barrymore; married 2nd, 1699, Francis Gash, collector of HM Revenue; married 3rd, 8 December 1729, as his second wife, Sir Henry Piers (d. 1733), 3rd bt., of Tristernagh, but had no issue by any of her husbands; she died 8 June and was buried at St Mary, Dublin, 10 June 1737; her will was proved 1744;
(3) Hon. Richard Barry (b. 1664); baptised at St Michan, Dublin 1 October 1664; died young;
(4) Hon. Anne Barry (b. c.1665?); apparently married, 12 February 1679/80 at St Bride, Dublin, John Keating (d. 1717); probably died before 1695, when her husband married her younger sister;
(5) Hon. Jane Barry; died young;
(6) Hon. Rose Barry (b. 1666), baptised at St Michan, Dublin, 10 October 1666;
(7) Hon. Mary Barry; died young; 
(8) Hon. Elizabeth Barry (d. by 1711), born about 1670; married, 11 July 1695 at St Michan, Dublin, as his second wife, Brig. James Naper alias Napper (c.1662-1719) of Loughcrew (Co. Meath), MP for Athboy 1695-99, Trim 1703-13 and Co. Meath, 1715-18, second son of James Napper, but had no issue; died before 1711;
(9) Hon. William Barry (b. 1672); baptised 27 July 1672; died young;
(10) Hon. Dorothea Barry (b. c.1675), born about 1675; married, 1703 (licence 29 April), as his second wife, Sir John Fielding (1673-1715), Governor of Jamaica, and had issue one daughter;
(11) Hon. Frances Barry; married, 23 November 1695, John Keating (d. 1717), MP for Trim, 1715-17, and had issue at least one son;
(12) Henry Barry (1680-1735), 3rd Baron Barry of Santry (q.v.).
He inherited Santry Court from his father in 1672.
He died on or after 25 October 1694 and was buried at Santry; his will was proved in Dublin, 10 November 1694. His wife died 6 February, and was buried at Santry, 17 February 1682.

Barry, Henry (1680-1735), 3rd Baron Barry of Santry. Fourth, but only surviving, son of Richard Barry (c.1635-94), 2nd Baron Barry of Santry, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Jenery, born 1680. Said to have been educated at Eton, 1698, though he does not appear in the college lists, and at St. John's College, Oxford (matriculated 1700). He succeeded his father as 3rd Baron Barry of Santry, October 1694, and took his seat in the Irish House of Lords, 21 September 1703, serving on several committees and being appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1714. He was a Whig in politics and a strong supporter of the Hanoverian succession and the Protestant religion. Immediately on coming of age and marrying, he pulled down the old house at Santry and built a replacement; in 1709 he also rebuilt the parish church. He was an officer in the Earl of Wharton's Dragoons (Lt-Col., 1710; disbanded, 1713) and was Governor of Charlemont, 1718, and of Derry city and Culmore Fort, 1719-35.  He married, 9 February 1702 (with a dowry of £4,500), Bridget (d. 1750), elder daughter of Sir Thomas Domvile, 1st bt., of Templeogue (Co. Dublin), and had issue:
(1) Henry Barry (1710-51), 4th Baron Barry of Santry (q.v.).
He inherited Santry Court from his father in 1694, and built a new house there following his marriage.
He died 27 January and was buried at Santry, 29 January 1734/5; his will was proved in Dublin in 1736. His widow died 21 August, and was buried at Santry, 8 September 1750.

Henry Barry, 4th Lord Santry
from a group portrait of the Hellfire Club

Barry, Henry (1710-51), 4th Baron Barry of Santry. Only child of Henry Barry (1680-1735), 3rd Baron Barry of Santry, and his wife Bridget, elder daughter of Sir Thomas Domvile, 1st bt., born 3 September 1710. He was evidently a 'typical 18th century rake', a heavy drinker, a leading member of the Irish Hell Fire Club, and possessed of a quarrelsome and violent nature: Dean Swift had chided his mother about his early misdeeds. On the evening of 9 August 1738, when he had been drinking heavily all day with friends in the kitchen of a tavern at Palmerstown near Dublin, he got into an argument with a Mr Humphries, but was so befuddled with drink that he found himself unable to draw his sword. He flew into a rage and stormed from the room, but collided with the tavern porter, Loughlin Murphy, before reaching the street. He shoved Murphy (who according to some accounts had formerly been his running footman, and had been invited to join the drinking party earlier in the day) back into the kitchen, and swore that he would run through the next man who spoke. 'With startlingly ill-judged courtesy, Murphy wished that no one would offend the noble lord', whereupon, true to his word, Lord Santry plunged his sword into Murphy's side. Murphy was not killed outright but died - probably from an infection in his wound - some weeks later in Dublin. Lord Santry was then arrested and charged with murder, but claimed the privilege of a trial by his peers in the Irish House of Lords. The trial was held on 27 April 1739, and such was the brilliant oratory of the prosecution and the weakness of the defence, that there was a speedy conviction and, since murder was treated as high treason in Ireland, an automatic sentence of death. As a convicted felon, Lord Santry's title and estates were also forfeited to the Crown, but after the trial, Lord Santry's friends and relatives appealed to King George II to exercise his prerogative of mercy and grant a pardon or at least a reprieve. Those making representations for mercy included all but one of the peers who had been on the jury convicting him. The king was initially reluctant to grant clemency, but was eventually persuaded, and a pardon was finally issued* on 17 June 1739, although his title was forfeited for life, and he felt obliged to leave Ireland, living the rest of his life in exile in England. Alongside the trial, Lord Santry was being pressed by his creditors for debts of some £13,000, and after his property was restored to him in 1741, his uncle secured an Act of Parliament vesting his property in trustees for the payment of his debts. By 1744, however, the trustees had ceased to act and his agent was managing his affairs in Ireland. In exile he lived in modest comfort, supported in part by the payment by the Treasury of pension arrears due to his father, for which an inexplicable allowance of £50 a month was eventually substituted. History does not record that anything was done, either by the family or the government, to support the family of the murdered tavern porter. In his last years he suffered increasingly from gout and depression. He married 1st, 8 May 1737 at Finglas (Co. Dublin), Anne (d. 1742), daughter of William Thornton of Finglas (Co. Dublin) and 2nd, 7 November 1750 at Ruddington (Notts), Elisabeth Shore (c.1733-1816) of Derby and Ruddington, but had no issue.
He inherited Santry Court from his father in 1734. He forfeited his estates on being convicted of murder in 1739, but they were restored to him in 1741. At his death he bequeathed his estates to his maternal uncle, Sir Compton Domvile, 2nd bt., of Templeogue (Co. Dublin).
He died in Nottingham, 18 March 1750/1, when his peerage became extinct, and was buried at St Nicholas, Nottingham, 22 March 1750/1. His first wife died in March 1742. His widow died 28 December 1816 and was buried at St Mary, Nottingham, 6 January 1817; her will was proved in York, January 1817 (estate under £5,000).
* Although not before a new axe had been purchased for the planned execution: it is reputed to have been acquired and preserved by the Domvile family as an heirloom.

Principal sources

Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerages, 1883, pp. 25-26; Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976, pp. 69-71; B.W. Adams, History and description of Santry and Cloghran parishes, County Dublin, 1883; E. Malins & P. Bowe, Irish gardens and demesnes from 1830, 1980, pp. 41-42; N. Garnham, 'The Trials of James Cotter and Henry, Baron Barry of Santry: Two Case Studies in the Administration of Criminal Justice in Early Eighteenth-Century Ireland', Irish Historical Studies, May 1999, pp. 328-342; T. Reeves-Smith, 'The country houses and designed landscapes of Fingal', in S. Flanagan & K. Coghlan, The built heritage of Fingal, 2005; V. Costello, Irish demesne landscapes, 1660-1740, 2015, pp. 28, 132.

Location of archives

Barry of Santry Court, Barons Barry of Santry: some records of this family are included among the papers of the Domvile family of Templeogue, baronets [National Library of Ireland, Domvile papers]

Coat of arms

Argent, three bars gemelles, gules.

Can you help?

• Can anyone provide further early views of Santry Court or photographs of the interior when it was still in private occupation?
• I should be most grateful if anyone can provide photographs or portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated.
• As always, any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 27 May 2020 and was updated 30 May 2020.