(512) Beauclerk of St. Leonards Lodge and Ardglass Castle

Beauclerk of St Leonard's Lodge 

This family were a cadet branch of the Beauclerks, Dukes of St. Albans. The 1st Duke was the illegitimate son of King Charles II by his mistress Nell Gwyn, and was married to Lady Diana de Vere, the daughter of the last Earl of Oxford. Whereas most of the king's illegitimate sons were provided for by marrying them to substantial heiresses, Diana was the heir to very little, and the 1st Duke only inherited a modest estate from his mother. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that several of the younger sons of the 1st Duke pursued careers - in the army, navy, and the church - which were materially assisted by their rank and connections but which were necessary to support them in the dignity to which they were born. Lord Sydney Beauclerk (1703-44), with whom the genealogy below begins, disdained such recourses and relied on his wits and charm to pursue a successful career as a fortune-hunter. His early efforts to secure marriage with a wealthy widow (the Duchess of Cleveland and Lady Betty Germaine) were ultimately unsuccessful, although Lady Betty paid him a thousand pounds in lieu of her promises. He was more successful with Richard Topham MP (d. 1730), who left him an annuity and the reversion of his substantial estate around Clewer Manor near Windsor (Berks), of which Lord Sydney came into possession in 1737; this included extensive property in the town of Windsor. His marriage to Mary Norris at the end of 1736 was his most successful venture, however, for she brought him Speke Hall (Lancs) [which will be described in a future post on the Norris family] and £60,000. 

When he died young in 1744, Lord Sydney's estates passed to his widow for life. She was proud of her own family and very attached to Speke Hall, and in her will she asked her only son, Topham Beauclerk (1739-80) to take the name Norris in lieu of Beauclerk and make Speke his principal seat. Burying himself in a dim corner of a northern county was, however, no part of Topham's life-plan, and he fulfilled neither request. After Eton, Oxford, and the Grand Tour he settled in London, where he was part of the social circle around Dr. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds. He seems at first to have been an elegant and sophisticated young man, noted for an interest in science and as a bibliophile of catholic interests.

The Grove, Muswell Hill: the house occupied by Topham Beauclerk in a drawing of c.1800. 
Image: Bruce Castle Museum.

He lived in the early 1770s at a house in the Adam brothers' Adelphi development, and he employed Robert Adam as an architect on several occasions, using him in 1770-74 to make additions to his house (later known as The Grove and now demolished) at Muswell Hill (Middx), including a laboratory for chemical experiments, and in 1779 to add a new library to his house in Great Russell St., Bloomsbury. Less appealingly, he was noted for his disinterest in his personal hygiene: one Christmas when he was staying with his brother-in-law at Blenheim Palace he was found to be the source of an outbreak of lice infections among his fellow guests. Even more worryingly, Topham was a gambler, and as a result of his losses he was living on capital not income. His estate around Windsor was sold in 1766, and after his mother's death in the same year, Speke was largely abandoned. He had an affair with Lady Bolingbroke and after she bore his child in 1767 and was divorced by her husband, he married her: they had two further children in 1769 and 1774. In the 1770s his health declined, he became addicted to laudanum, and he became notoriously bad-tempered: it seems likely that he was suffering from syphilis. His wife, who was a talented artist, was freed from a second unhappy marriage by his death in 1780, and lived until 1808.

Mary, the illegitimate daughter of Topham Beauclerk and Lady Bolingbroke, was born in 1767, and had a scandalous early life. She grew up in her parents' household but was largely ignored by her father, and in the 1780s eloped to the continent with her half-brother, the 3rd Lord Bolingbroke, who abandoned his first wife and children for her. Their incestuous relationship produced four sons before Lord Bolingbroke abandoned her too in 1794, after which she married Francis Jenison, an English-born diplomat in the service of the King of Württemberg, and had another six children. Jenison, who was Grand Chamberlain to the King for nineteen years and was made a Count, provided her with a measure of respectability, but it is hard to believe that she was widely received in society after her youthful indiscretions. Her legitimate sister Elizabeth (1769-93) and brother Charles George Beauclerk (1774-1845) had more conventional and aristocratic marriages: Elizabeth to the 11th Earl of Pembroke and Charles to Emily Charlotte Ogilvie, a daughter of the Duchess of Leinster by her second marriage.

Charles George Beauclerk seems to have inherited his father's brains but suffered from an 'invincible shyness' which unfitted him for any public role, although he could be brilliantly incisive in debate among friends. He inherited his father's estate at Speke Hall and three manors in Leicestershire from the 3rd Duke of St. Albans, but sold most of this property, including Speke, and bought a thousand acres in Sussex, where he built a (probably quite small) new house to the designs of John Johnson before 1808, which he called St. Leonard's Lodge. He and his wife produced 13 children, most of whom survived to adulthood. His eldest son, Aubrey William Beauclerk (1801-54) inherited Ardglass Castle from his maternal grandfather in 1832, and later also St. Leonard's Lodge, which he sold in about 1852. He seems to have spent little time on his Irish estate, which was largely managed for him by a succession of agents. In the 1830s he was a radical Whig MP but did not seek re-election after his first term. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1837-1919) who was also largely non-resident; one of his agents was his illegitimate half-brother, Charles Beauclerk (c.1832-80), who later took holy orders. Ardglass Castle was generally let, and in the 1890s became a Golf Club, which it still remains.

King's Castle, Ardglass: the house c.1900. Image: Robert J. Welch/NMNI. 

Two of Charles George Beauclerk's younger sons also lived in some style: Charles Robert Beauclerk (1802-72) at Dover House, Warningcamp (Sussex) and George Robert Beauclerk (1803-71) at King's Castle, Ardglass, a ruined medieval tower house which he rebuilt as a neo-Tudor villa c.1863. Charles Robert Beauclerk was a barrister and businessman, who at the age of forty married the daughter of a Cuban judge half his age, who was a Roman Catholic. Their younger sons were brought up in her religion, and two of them became Jesuit priests.

St. Leonard's Lodge (later Leonardslee), Sussex

The first house on this site was designed by John Johnson and built in stone between 1803 and 1808 for  Charles George Beauclerk (1774-1845). The only survival from the estate at this time is the octagonal lodge known as the Round House, built in the 1820s. The house itself was completely demolished, apparently without any visual record, after the estate was sold to William Hubbard, a Russia merchant, who found it inadequate for the grandeur of a site with far-reaching views. He built a replacement to the designs of Professor T.L. Donaldson, an authority on the architecture of Classical antiquity, in 1853-55; the name Leonardslee was adopted in 1869 to avoid confusion with St Leonard's House. 

Leonardslee House: the entrance front in 2010. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

The new two-storey house is built of sandstone ashlar and has five by three bays and a hipped roof. The west-facing main front has a faintly Italianate composition, with the projecting end bays having windows (real and blind) set in tripartite aedicules. In the centre is a porte-cochère with rusticated bands. The east and south fronts are simpler, and indeed the south side was originally screened by a conservatory (destroyed in the great storm of 1987). The house had a large service wing on the north side, which was reduced in size to the present four bays in the 1980s. 

Leonardslee House: the east-facing garden front. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

Leonardslee House: the top-lit central hall.

The interior is dominated by the top-lit and galleried neo-classical central hall, where the entrances to the main reception rooms and the staircases are framed by scagliola columns and pilasters, though the cast iron gallery and staircase balustrades are not especially classical. The main reception rooms have much simpler decoration: just restrained cornices and joinery, although some Rococo-style fireplaces were introduced at the end of the 19th century by Sir Edmund Loder. The house has been portrayed as typical of those Regency and early Victorian houses 'not pretending to be stately but displaying [the] modest sumptuousness of an age that set great store by solidity, durability and comfort'. The house was converted to offices in the 1980s, but since 2019 has operated as a wedding and events venue and restaurant with rooms.

Leonardslee House: the gardens in 2010. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

The gardens below the house were begun by the Beauclerk family, who created an American garden north of the house. Since this was confusingly planted with shrubs brought from Nepal, China and Japan it was later renamed The Dell. The gardens were greatly elaborated and developed by Sir Edmund Loder, who planted the steep-sided sandstone valley with acid-loving trees and shrubs. A chain of lakes was created down the valley between two existing pools which seem to have been created for earlier ironworking activities in the area. A rock garden was made west of the house by James Pulham & Son, c.1890, originally for alpine plants but later replaced by azaleas and rhodedendrons which make a spectacular show in spring. The gardens were open to the public from the 1920s, but fell into disrepair in the 1930s and during the Second World War. They were restored in 1946-50, and were then continuously open until the property was sold by the Loder family in 2010. An extensive programme of restoration took place in 2017-19, and the gardens are happily now once more open to the public.

Descent: built for Charles George Beauclerk (1774-1845); to son, Aubrey William Beauclerk (1801-54); sold c.1852 to William Egerton Hubbard (1812-83); sold 1889 to son-in-law, Sir Edmund Giles Loder (1849-1920), 2nd bt.; to grandson, Sir Giles Rolls Loder (1914-99), 3rd bt; handed on in 1981 to Sir Edmund Jeune Loder (b. 1941), 4th bt., who sold the house in 1984 and the gardens in 2010... sold 2017 to Penny Streeter.

Ardglass Castle, Co. Down

A group of buildings with a complex evolution in both function and appearance. It was built initially in c.1400 as a fortified warehouse by a group of London merchants trading with Ireland, and originally known as the 'New works' or 'Newark'. This store was a long and fairly narrow structure, some 210 by 28 feet, which faced north, towards the harbour. On this side there were three towers and some thirty alternating flat- and arch-headed openings, which may represent the doors and windows of early shops or storage units. Later in the 15th century, or perhaps in the 16th century, a detached tower house was erected to the north-west. After that the history of the site is obscure until in 1744 Harris described both the store and tower house as ruinous, and said the town itself, formerly one of the chief ports of Ulster, was 'in a mean condition'. However, in about 1790 the old tower house and warehouse buildings were remodelled as a large country house by Lord Charles James Fitzgerald (1756-1810), a younger son of the Duke of Leinster, who owned the estate. 

Ardglass Castle: south front, c.1900. Image: Robert J. Welch/NMNI. 

Fitzgerald (later 1st Baron Lecale) seems to have employed Charles Lilly of Dublin, then engaged in salvaging another medieval ruin at Downpatrick Cathedral, as his architect. He created a shorter but taller south-facing building out of the ruined warehouse, adapting the other buildings on site as lower wings, and remodelling the detached tower house. The whole complex was dressed up as a Gothick fort, with crowstepped gables, battlements, some pointed arches and windows with pointed-headed lights, and was renamed Ardglass Castle. In the early 19th century, William Ogilvie (1740-1832), the second husband of the widowed Duchess of Leinster, bought the freehold of the estate and set about transforming the town itself, creating much of what exists today. The Beauclerks were less actively interested in the town, and by 1864 the castle was let. In 1896 the castle became the clubhouse of the newly formed Ardglass Golf Club, which laid out a seven-hole golf course (later expanded to the present standard 18-hole course) on the exposed and windswept grounds to the south of the castle. The club remains the owner of the building, and not unreasonably claims it as the oldest golf club-house in the world!

Descent: remodelled for Lord Charles James Fitzgerald (1756-1810), 1st Baron Lecale; to mother, Emily Fitzgerald (1741-1814), Duchess of Leinster, wife of William Ogilvie (1740-1832), who purchased the freehold; to grandson, Maj. Aubrey William Beauclerk (1801-54); to son, Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1837-1919), who let it to Armar Henry Lowry-Corry (1836-93) and later to Ardglass Golf Club, who subsequently purchased the freehold.

Beauclerk family of St. Leonard's Lodge and Arglass Castle

Beauclerk, Lord Sydney (1703-44). Fifth son of Charles Beauclerk (1670-1726), 1st Duke of St. Albans [for whom see my post on the ducal family], and his wife Lady Diana de Vere (c.1679-1742), eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Aubrey de Vere (1627-1703), 20th and last Earl of Oxford, born 27 February and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 8 April 1703. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford (matriculated 1721; created MA 1727 and DCL 1733). Whig MP for New Windsor, 1733-44; Trustee and Common Councillor of the Georgia Society, 1739-40; Master of the Royal Harriers, 1738; Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household, 1740-42. He was regarded by his contemporaries as a fortune hunter, and made serious attempts to marry the widowed Duchess of Cleveland and Lady Betty Germaine, who were both rich. In 1737, on the death of Sir Thomas Reeve, chief justice of the common pleas, he inherited estates at Clewer and Windsor under the will of Richard Topham MP (d. 1730), but, though ‘the assiduous dry nurse of a wealthy judge’, he narrowly failed to obtain Sir Thomas’s private fortune as well. He married, 9 December 1736 in the chapel of St James' Palace, Westminster (Middx), Mary (d. 1766), daughter and heiress of Thomas Norris MP of Speke Hall (Lancs), and had issue:

(1) Topham Beauclerk (1739-80) (q.v.);

(2) Charlotte Beauclerk; died unmarried and probably in infancy.

He lived at Windsor. His marriage brought him his wife's fortune of £60,000 and the Speke Hall estate (Lancs), and in 1737 he also inherited an estate at Windsor and Clewer (Berks) under the will of Richard Topham MP (d. 1730), as a result of which he is said to have owned more of Windsor than the King did. At his death his estates passed to his widow for life.

He died 23 November 1744 and was buried at Windsor, although his body may have been exhumed and reburied at Garston (Lancs) after his wife's death in accordance with her will. His widow died 20 November 1766 and was buried at Garston (Lancs).

* In 1727, when he was paying court to the widowed Duchess of Cleveland, aged 63, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu described him as "Nell Gwyn in person, with the sex alter'd", and composed the rhyme: 'Her children banished, age forgot/ Lord Sidney is her care;/ And, what is much a happier lot,/Has hopes to be her heir'.

Beauclerk, Topham (1739-80). Only son of Lord Sydney Beauclerk (1703-44) and his wife Mary, daughter and heir of Thomas Norris MP of Speke Hall (Lancs), born 22 December 1739 and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 19 January 1739/40. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford (matriculated 1757) and then went to Italy, ostensibly for the sake of his health, travelling with Lord Ossory via Paris and Geneva to Florence, Rome, Capua, Naples and Venice before returning home on his own. He declined to take the name Norris in lieu of Beauclerk as requested in his mother's will. He was a bibliophile, employing Robert Adam to built a room behind his house in Great Russell St., Bloomsbury, to hold his collection, which amounted to more than 30,000 volumes by the time of his death. His collection was sold after he died and realised £5,011, which only just covered the mortgage he had raised on the collection from his brother-in-law, the Duke of Marlborough. He was a close friend of Dr. Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer, and was a member of The Club, founded by Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds, from 1764. He was elected to the Society of Dilettanti in 1765 and the Royal Society in 1770, having 'a passionate fondness for scientific experiments'. He was a dandy and a dazzling conversationalist, but he was also an inveterate gambler, reputedly losing £10,000 in a single night while in Venice, and several contemporaries report that he ill-treated his wife and cruel and unfeeling to his children. As he became older, he grew more misanthropic, and Horace Walpole, who called him 'the worst tempered man he ever knew', took pity on his wife, whose talent as an artist he admired. Walpole also noted that he took laudanum in vast quantities, and that he was 'remarkably filthy in his person': one Christmas, when he was staying at Blenheim Palace he was found to be the source of an outbreak of lice among the guests. He married, 12 March 1768 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, his former mistress, Lady Diana (1735-1808), elder daughter of Charles Spencer (1706-58), 3rd Duke of Marlborough and divorced wife* of Frederick St. John, 3rd Viscount St. John and 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, and had issue (of whom the first was born prior to their marriage):

(1) Mary Beauclerk (1767-1851), born 19 June 1767**; in the 1780s she had an incestuous long-term relationship with her married half-brother, George St. John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke, by whom she had four sons, all born abroad; after he abandoned her about 1794, she married, 29 June 1797 at Heidelberg (Germany), Francis Jenison (later Count Franz Jenison von Walworth (1764-1824) of Heidelberg, diplomat and Grand Chamberlain of the Household to King of Württemberg, 1797-1816, and had two sons and four daughters; died 23 July and was buried at Schlierbach, Baden (Germany), 26 July 1851;

(2) Elizabeth Beauclerk (1769-93), born 19 March and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 17 April 1769; married, 8 April 1787, her first cousin George Augustus Herbert (1759-1827), 11th Earl of Pembroke and 8th Earl of Montgomery (who married 2nd, 25 January 1808, Countess Catherine Romanovitch (1783-1856), only daughter of Simon Romanovitch, 3rd Count Woronzow, the Russian ambassador to London, and had further issue one son and five daughters), and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 25 March 1793, and was buried at Wilton where she is commemorated by a monument;

(3) Charles George Beauclerk (1774-1845) (q.v.).

He inherited Clewer Manor (with land in Windsor, Burnham and Sunninghill) and Speke Hall on the death of his mother in 1766. He sold his Windsor property to Sir Edward Walpole in 1766, and allowed Speke to fall into disrepair. Instead he lived in London, where he had houses in the Adelphi, Hertford St., and later Bloomsbury (altered by Robert Adam) and a villa at Muswell Hill (also altered by Adam).

He died 11 March 1780 and was buried at Garston (Lancs); his will was proved in the PCC, 31 March 1780. His widow died 1 August 1808.

* Lord Bolingbroke divorced her by Act of Parliament in 1768, on the grounds of her adultery with Beauclerk. She had left Lord Bolingbroke, however, because of his violence towards her when he was drunk, which was most of the time. On learning of her marriage to his friend Beauclerk just two days after the divorce, Dr. Johnson observed "The woman's a whore, and there's an end on't", a remark which embodies more of his characteristic pithiness than his common humanity.

** The date is often given as 20 August 1766, based on her age at death which was recorded as 84 years, 11 months and 3 days, but the evidence presented at Lady Bolingbroke's trial for adultery seems to leave no doubt.

Beauclerk, Charles George (1774-1845). Only son of Topham Beauclerk (1739-80) and his wife Lady Diana, elder daughter of the 3rd Duke of Marlborough and divorced wife of Frederick St. John, 3rd Viscount St. John and 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, born 20 January and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 21 February 1774. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1790). In 1793 he travelled to Naples (Italy) for his health, and subsequently travelled with Lord Holland to Rome, Florence and Venice, before returning to Naples. He was a Foxite Whig in politics, and was MP for Richmond (Yorks), 1796-98. An officer of the North Bramber Volunteers, 1803 (Maj.). He was described as 'clever, well-educated  and perfectly a gentleman', although he suffered from 'an invincible shyness' which made him awkward in company; he took the Chiltern Hundreds to resign from Parliament after sitting for just two years. Following his marriage he lived in almost complete retirement, and Lady Holland considered his a wasted talent, 'as he has a most acute perception, and an uncommon degree of subtlety in his arguments'. He married, 29 April 1799 at St Marylebone (Middx), Emily Charlotte (1778-1832), second daughter of William Ogilvie of Ardglass Castle (Co. Down), and had issue:

(1) Emily Elizabeth Frederica Beauclerk (1800-16), born 19 February and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 5 April 1800; died unmarried, 16 September 1816;

(2) Aubrey William Beauclerk (1801-54) (q.v.);

(3) Charles Robert Beauclerk (1802-72) (q.v.);

(4) George Robert Beauclerk (1803-71) (q.v.);

(5) Caroline Anne Beauclerk (1804-69), born 12 January or 7 February* and baptised at Nuthurst (Sussex), 23 March 1804; married, 20 October 1829 at Cowfold (Sussex), Robert Aldridge (1801-71) of New Lodge (later St Leonard's House) (Sussex), only son of Capt. John Aldridge, and had issue four sons and three daughters; died 11 September 1869; will proved 17 November 1869 (effects under £20);

(6) Georgiana Beauclerk (1805-47), born 25 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 9 March 1805; married, 10 October 1826 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Sir John Dean Paul (1802-68), 2nd bt. (who married 2nd, 17 January 1849, Susan (d. 1854), daughter of John Ewens of Brighton (Sussex) and 3rd, 17 October 1861 at Christ Church, St Marylebone (Middx), Jane Constance (d. 1879), daughter of Thomas Budgen of Holmesdale House (Surrey), but had no further issue), a banker who was sentenced to be transported for 14 years for fraud in 1855 but obtained a ticket of leave after serving only part of his sentence; they had issue one son; died 25 December and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, 31 December 1847;

(7) Diana Olivia Beauclerk (1806-75), born 22 June and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 6 July 1806; married, 10 April 1823, Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane (1797-1842), 3rd bt., of Armathwaite Hall and Hutton-in-the-Forest (Cumbld), and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 9 February 1875; administration of goods granted 26 June 1875 (effects under £1,500);

(8) Jane Elizabeth Beauclerk (1807-92), baptised at Nuthurst (Sussex), 28 July 1807; married, 24 July 1830 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, Henry Fitzroy (1806-77) of Salcey Lawn (Northants), eldest son of Rev. Lord Henry Fitzroy and grandson of the 3rd Duke of Grafton, and had issue including three sons; died 15 July 1892 and was buried at Little Easton (Essex);

(9) Isabella Elizabeth Beauclerk (1808-64), born 10 October and baptised at Cowfold, 23 November 1808; married, 12 March 1840 at St Leonard's Lodge, Adm. John William Montagu (1790-1882), second son of Adm. Sir George Montagu (1750-1829), and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 21 July and was buried at Wilcot (Wilts), 28 July 1864;

(10) Amelius Beauclerk (1809-10), baptised at Cowfold, 29 November 1809; died in infancy and was buried at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 17 February 1810;

(11) Ferdinand Beauclerk (1811-29), born 19 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 7 April 1811; officer in Bengal Light Cavalry (Acting Cornet); died unmarried in Calcutta (India), 5 October 1829;

(12) Katherine Katinka Beauclerk (1812-82), born May and baptised at Cowfold, 28 July 1812; married, 5 April 1845, Col. Sir George Ashley Maude KCB (1817-94), equerry to HM Queen Victoria, and had issue six sons and one daughter; died 1 June 1882; administration of goods granted 25 July 1882 (effects £133);

(13) Augustus Beauclerk (1813-14), born 1813; died in infancy and was buried at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster, 21 February 1814.

He inherited Speke Hall (Lancs) from his father in 1780 and three Leicestershire manors (Wigston Magna, Galby and Frisby) from the 3rd Duke in 1786; he came of age in 1795. He sold the Speke estate in 1797 and the manors of Wigston and Frisby before his death. He purchased about 1,000 acres of the St. Leonard's Forest estate in about 1801, where he built St Leonard's Lodge to the designs of John Johnson before 1808. 

He died 25 December 1845; his will was proved in the PCC, 6 February 1846. His wife died 22 January and was buried at Cowfold, 28 January 1832.

* Burke's Peerage gives the earlier date; the parish register gives the later date.

Beauclerk, Aubrey William (1801-54). Eldest son of Charles George Beauclerk (1774-1845) and his wife Emily Charlotte (d. 1832), second daughter of William Ogilvie of Ardglass Castle (Co. Down), born 20 February 1801. An officer in the 99th Foot (Ensign, 1818; Lt., 1820; Capt., 1824; retired as Maj., 1826). A radical Whig in politics, he was MP for East Surrey, 1832-37, but did not stand again thereafter. He married 1st, 13 February 1834 at Washington (Sussex), Ida (1814-39), fourth daughter of Sir Charles Foster Goring, 7th bt., and 2nd, 7 December 1840 at St Ann, Kew (Surrey), Rose Matilda (1818-78), daughter of Joshua Robinson, and had issue:

(1.1) Ida Beauclerk (1835-43), born 29 January and baptised at St Peter, Eaton Sq., Westminster (Middx), 22 April 1835; died young and was buried at Cowfold (Sussex), 19 June 1843;

(1.2) Diana Arabella Beauclerk (1836-55); baptised at Cowfold, 22 August 1836; died unmarried, 26 May, and was buried at Cheltenham (Glos), 31 May 1855;

(1.3) Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (1837-1919) (q.v.);

(1.4) Augusta Beauclerk (1838-1915), born Oct-Dec 1838 and baptised at Cowfold, 24 April 1839; married, 4 January 1866 at St James, Paddington (Middx), Thomas Edward Howe (c.1832-83), barrister-at-law, son of Thomas Howe, solicitor, and had issue four sons and two daughters; died 6 November 1915; will proved 17 December 1915 (estate £217);

(2.1) Louisa Katherine Beauclerk (1842-1929), born 24 June 1842; lived at Millbeck Cottage, Keswick (Cumbld); died unmarried, 24 December 1929; administration of goods granted 10 March and 26 July 1930 (estate £12,461) and again 2 March 1965;

(2.2) Isabella Julia Beauclerk (c.1845-1930), born about 1845; married, 19 October 1867 at Christ Church, Virginia Water (Surrey), Surgeon-Maj. Chevalier George Albert Palatiano MD (c.1832-1910) of Corfu (Greece), son of Constantine Palatiano, surgeon, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 13 March 1930 and was buried at Hampstead Cemetery; will proved 2 July 1930 (estate £12,593).

He also had at least two illegitimate children by Charlotte Bury:

(X1) Charlotte Beauclerk (c.1830-55), born about 1830; brought up with his legitimate family; died unmarried at Ardglass Castle, 11 January 1855;

(X2) Rev. Charles Beauclerk (c.1832-80), born about 1832; an officer in the Kent Regiment of Militia Artillery (2nd Lt., 1856; Lt., 1856; Capt., 1858); acted as agent to his half-brother at Ardglass and developed a brickfield there, 1860; ordained deacon, 1860 and priest, 1861; perpetual curate of Dunsverick (Co. Antrim), 1861-66 and Glencraig (Co. Down), 1866-69; vicar of St Mary, Belfast (Co. Down), 1869-75; English chaplain of Holy Trinity, Boulogne (France), 1875-80; married, 8 November 1860 at Magheralin, Elizabeth Maria (c.1843-88), fourth daughter of Rev. Henry Murphy, and had issue at least twelve children of whom five died in infancy; died at Boulogne (France), 27 January 1880; will proved 24 March 1880 (effects under £3,000).

He inherited Ardglass Castle from his maternal grandfather in 1832. He purchased the Wigston Magna estate from his father and inherited St. Leonard's Lodge in 1845, but sold it before 1853. 

He died 1 February 1854. His first wife drowned accidentally in one of the ponds at St. Leonard's Lodge, 23 April 1839. His widow married 2nd, 20 August 1864 at Bishops Waltham (Hants), John James Johnson of Chester Place, Hyde Park, London, son of Joshua Johnson, and lived latterly at Chagford (Devon); she died 20 July 1878 and administration of her goods was granted 5 September 1878 (effects under £3,000).

Beauclerk, Aubrey de Vere (1837-1919). Only son of Aubrey William Beauclerk (1801-54) and his first wife, Ida, fourth daughter of Sir Charles Foster Goring, 7th bt., born 5 October 1837. Educated at Rugby, Cheltenham and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1855). JP (from 1860) for Co. Down; High Sheriff of Co. Down, 1863. He married 1st, 1 December 1858 at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx) (separated 1870 and divorced in 1895 on the grounds of his adultery and desertion), his first cousin, Evelyn Georgiana Matilda (1841-1931), third daughter of Henry Fitzroy of Hartwell (Northants), and 2nd, 16 November 1895, Katherine Lucy (1841-1919), daughter of Capt. Hildebrand Barnham and widow of Capt. John Collier-Tucker RN (d. 1873), and had issue:

(1.1) Sidney de Vere Beauclerk (1866-1903), born 8 May 1866; educated at Eton, Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1884; BA 1887) and the Inner Temple (admitted 1887); died unmarried, 4 July 1903; will proved 27 July 1903 (estate £21,803).

He inherited Ardglass Castle from his father in 1854 and came of age in 1858. The house was leased to Armar Henry Lowry-Corry (1836-93) by 1864, and although Beauclerk used it as an occasional residence in the 1880s, he let it in 1896 to the Ardglass Golf Club.

He died 9 July and was buried at St John the Evangelist Cemetery, Bath, 12 July 1919. His first wife married 2nd, 16 December 1895 at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx) (div. 1905), George Simon Arthur Watson-Taylor of Erlestoke Park (Wilts), and died at Cannes (France), 10 January 1931; her will was proved 22 January 1931 (estate £6,076). His second wife died 23 January 1919.

Beauclerk, Charles Robert (1802-72). Second son of Charles George Beauclerk (1774-1845) and his wife Emily Charlotte, second daughter of William Ogilvie of Ardglass Castle (Co. Down), born 6 or 30 January* and baptised at St James, Piccadilly, Westminster (Middx), 30 March 1802. Educated at Halnaker (Sussex), Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (matriculated 1819; BA 1823; MA 1827) and Lincoln's Inn (admitted 1823; called 1829). Barrister-at-law**; Fellow of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, 1822-42. A director of the Edinburgh Life Assurance Co. He married, 16 March 1842 at the British Consulate in Paris (France), Joaquina (c.1823-81), second daughter of Don José Maria de Zamora, chief magistrate of Cuba, and had issue:

(1) Sidney Joseph Beauclerk (1848-51), born 22 December 1848; died young, 7 August 1851;

(2) Ferdinand Beauclerk (1851-1920), born 15 January 1851; an Anglican in religion; an officer in the Royal Engineers (Lt., 1869; Capt., 1881; retired 1884); served in First World War with Sussex Volunteer Training Corps; President of Western India Industrial Association; Guardian, Trustee and Secretary to Salar Jung Minors and Estates, Hyderabad (India); married, 9 February 1872 at St Paul, Valetta (Malta), Emily Johanna Frances (d. 1916) (who divorced him in 1896 on grounds of desertion), youngest daughter of Col. Robert Clifford Lloyd; they had no issue but he adopted Helen Mary Dorothea (1892-1969), novelist, the daughter of his friend Maj. Sydney Edwin Bellingham (d. 1893); lived latterly at Dibden (Hants); died 3 May and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London, 5 May 1920;

(3) Rev. Charles Sidney Beauclerk SJ (1855-1934), born 1 January and baptised at Chelsea RC church, 12 February 1855; educated at Beaumont College and Stonyhurst and joined the Jesuits, 1875; ordained as a RC priest, 1888; priest at Holywell (Flints), 1890-98 where he played a leading role in developing St Winifrede's Well as a RC shrine, but following a dispute with the writer Frederick Rolfe his position became untenable and he was transferred to serve at Boscombe (Hants), Manresa House, Roehampton (Surrey), Malta, Clitheroe (Lancs), Richmond and Accrington (Lancs); died unmarried, 22 December 1934;

(4) Rev. Henry Sidney Beauclerk SJ (1857-1909), born 25 November 1857; educated at Beaumont College and Stonyhurst and joined the Jesuits; ordained as a RC priest, 1890; missionary in Barbados, British Guiana, Jamaica and Maryland (USA); vicar-general to Bishop Galton and Father Superior of the Society of Jesus in Guiana and Barbados; died unmarried, 30 September 1909;

(5) Robert Sidney de Vere Beauclerk (1858-1934), born 14 December 1858; educated at Beaumont College and joined the Jesuits but left the order before completing his training for ordination; Headmaster of Kenilworth School, Cape Town (South Africa); author of A summary of English History to 1802; married, 30 October 1894, Beatrice Annie Elliot (1870-1947), second daughter of Arthur Richard Hollebone, and had issue one son, who was killed in the First World War; lived latterly in Egypt; died 26 March 1934; administration of his goods granted to his widow, 9 October 1934 (estate in England, £10);

(6) Mary Beauclerk (1861-1920), born 17 April 1861; died unmarried, 17 October 1920; will proved 24 December 1920 (estate £290);

(7) William Topham Sidney Beauclerk (1864-1950), born in Biarritz (France), 3 July 1864; educated at Beaumont College; engineer in Argentina; married, 17 December 1910 in Spain, María de los Dolores de Peñalver y Zamora (1875-1972), 7th Marquesa de Arcos, only surviving child of Enrique, Count de Peñalver and 6th Marqués de Arcos in Spain, and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 5 May 1950.

He lived at Dover House, Warningcamp (Sussex).

He died 22 February 1872 and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London; his will was proved 5 March 1872 (effects under £6,000). His widow died 16 November 1881; her will was proved 10 December 1881 (effects £68).

* Burke's Peerage says 6 January but the parish register entry for his baptism gives his date of birth as 30 January.

** The Alumni Cantabrigiensis says he was also in holy orders, but this may be a confusion with his illegitimate nephew, the Rev. Charles Beauclerk (c.1832-80).

Beauclerk, George Robert (1803-71). Third son of Charles George Beauclerk (1774-1845) and his wife Emily Charlotte, second daughter of William Ogilvie of Ardglass Castle (Co. Down), born 24 or 28 February and baptised at St George, Hanover Sq., Westminster (Middx), 13 March 1803. An officer in the 23rd Foot (2nd Lt., 1823; Lt., 1825; Capt., 1826; retired 1833). Author of Beauclerk's Journey to Morocco (1828), describing a journey he undertook in 1826. He married, Jan-Mar 1865* at Gravesend (Kent), Maria Sarah (1832-1923), younger daughter of Ralph Lonsdale, and had issue:

(1) Georgiana Beauclerk (1862-1942), born before her parents' marriage, 10 July 1862 and baptised at St Luke, Chelsea (Middx), 10 March 1865; lived with her mother in Brighton and latterly with her widowed sister at Oaklands, Brading (IoW); died unmarried, 10 May 1942; will proved 21 August 1942 (estate £1,852);

(2) Caroline Elizabeth Beauclerk (1865-1952), born 12 June and baptised at Chapel Royal, Brighton, 8 December 1865; married, 24 April 1895 at Brighton (Sussex), Rev. Alfred Norris Cope (1855-1936), vicar of Dormington with Bartestree (Herefs), 1886-1929, but had no issue; lived latterly with her elder sister at Oaklands, Brading (IoW); died 8 November 1952; will proved 3 January 1953 (estate £2,255);

(3) Emily Kathleen Beauclerk (1867-1953), born 25 January 1867; married, 26 December 1917, George Duguay (1889-1944) of Ryde (IoW), a French Canadian soldier who had been badly wounded at the battle of Vimy Ridge, 1917; they had no issue; died 16 April 1953 and was buried at Ryde (IoW); will proved 15 July 1953 (estate £3,287);

(4) Ida Beauclerk (1869-1955), born 7 June 1869; married, 30 July 1891 at St Marylebone (Middx), George Francis Berney (1861-1931) of Croydon (Surrey), solicitor and mountaineer, son of Edward Berney FRCS, and had issue two sons and two daughters; lived latterly at Northleach (Glos); died 5 August 1955; will proved 12 October 1955 (estate £4,751);

(5) Amelius George de Vere Beauclerk (1871-1939), born 1 October 1871; served in the Labour Corps (Cpl.) in First World War; married, 26 August 1918 at Dormington (Herefs), Margeurite Olive Claire (k/a Margot) (1887-1978), daughter of Louis Antoine Bertrand of Matfield (Kent), and had issue one son; died at Stanway (Essex), 26 August 1939; will proved 1 December 1939 (estate £7,091).

He lived at King's Castle, Ardglass (Co. Down), where he rebuilt a ruined tower house as a neo-Tudor villa about 1863. He also had a London town house at 14 Hobart Place, Pimlico (Middx).

He died at King's Castle, 5 December 1871, and was buried at Ardglass; his will was proved 22 June 1872 (effects under £8,000). His widow died aged 91 on 18 October 1923; her will was proved 27 November 1923 (estate £6,372).

* Burke's Peerage says they were married on 2 June 1861, but this seems to be a pretty fiction to disguise the fact that their actual marriage took place three years after the birth of their eldest daughter.

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 3460-61; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1850, vol. 1, pp. 73-74; W. Harris, The Antient and Present State of the County of Down, 1757, pp. 20-22; P. Ferriday, Victorian Architecture, 1963, p.65; D. Noy, Dr. Johnson's Friend and Robert Adam's client: Topham Beauclerk, 2016; E. Williamson, T. Hudson, J. Musson & I. Nairn, The buildings of England: Sussex - West, 2nd edn., 2019, pp. 497-98; P. Smith, Buildings of South County Down, 2019, p. 160.

Location of archives

No significant accumulation is known to survive.

Coat of arms

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

Can you help?

• Does anyone know of a view of St. Leonard's Lodge before it was rebuilt in 1853-55?
• 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 15 April 2022 and updated 12 October 2023.

(503) Beale of Drumlamford and Standen House, baronets

The rise of this family to fortune began with William Beale (1770-1848), who was born at Atherstone in Warwickshire and apprenticed to a plumber in nearby Tamworth. He later established himself in business as a lead and glass merchant in Birmingham, where he was sufficiently successful to become part of the town elite, serving as Low Bailiff in 1822 and as one of the Street Commissioners (who provided the only effective urban administration until the borough was incorporated in 1838). William had two sons, the elder of whom, Samuel Beale (1803-74) began by following in his father's footsteps but rapidly diversified into banking, railways, ironworking and other boom industries. The younger son, William John Beale (1807-83), became a solicitor and founded one of the city's most successful legal practices.

Samuel Beale was Low Bailiff of Birmingham in 1834; Mayor of the town in 1841; Chairman of the Midland Railway for twenty years, from 1844-64; and eventually MP for Derby, 1857-65. He retired in the mid 1860s when his health began to fail, and moved to Warfield Grove, a large 18th century house in Berkshire, which he had bought in 1858. When he died in 1874 he left a fortune of some £350,000 derived from his interests in banking, railways and ironmaking, and the bulk of his property passed to his only surviving son, William Lansdowne Beale (1829-96). Warfield Grove was sold in 1906 by the latter's son, Arthur Geach Beale (1857-1908).

William John Beale (1807-83) became the solicitor to the Midland Railway, which was both profitable in itself and attracted further clients to his firm. Although he did not play a significant part in Birmingham politics, like his brother, he was a prominent member of the Unitarian congregation there, and was closely involved with the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, which was both at the heart of the cultural life of the city and a major source of funding for the city's general hospital. He had four sons, three whom became lawyers and one a physician and surgeon (who lived to be 101 and therefore must count as something of an advert for his profession!). The eldest son, Sir William Phipson Beale (1839-1922) was educated for a career in industry but changed tack and became a successful barrister. In 1898 he bought Drumlamford House in Ayrshire as a holiday - and future retirement - home. He had tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to get elected as a Liberal MP in the West Midlands, but had more luck after moving to Ayrshire, becoming MP for South Ayrshire, 1906-18. He and his wife had no children, so on her death in 1927, Drumlamford passed to one of his nephews.

The second and third sons of W.J. Beale both became solicitors, like their father. James Samuel Beale (1840-1912) took over from his father as solicitor to the Midland Railway, and managed the London office of Beale & Co., which was maintained largely because the railway business involved a lot of parliamentary work. He became eminent in his field, and was President of the Law Society in 1908. His younger brother, Charles Gabriel Beale (1843-1912) managed the Birmingham office of Beale & Co., and was in many ways the successor to his father. This included his inheriting Bryn Tirion, the house in Wales which his father had built in the 1870s, which he retained and used as a holiday home until his death, after which it was sold and became an hotel. By 1890, J.S. Beale, who lived in the smart upper middle class district of Holland Park, London, obviously felt the need of a similar bolt hole away from London, to which he might eventually retire. In that year, he bought three farms near East Grinstead, and built a new country house, which he called Standen House, to the designs of Philip Webb. After his death, Standen passed to his widow and then his two spinster daughters, with the result that it remained essentially unchanged until the 1970s. Although a new appreciation for Victorian art and architecture was then in its infancy, the National Trust were persuaded to take on the house in 1972, and it has since been recognised as a rare (and well-documented) survival of Arts & Crafts taste.

James Samuel Beale had three sons. The eldest, Sir John Field Beale (1874-1935) was a solicitor, company director and industrialist, whose most prominent appointments were as chairman of the Midlands ironworking firm, GKN, and deputy chairman of the Midland Railway. During the First World War he assisted the Government with the supply of wheat, and was rewarded with a knighthood in 1918. He lived in a large but much altered Georgian house in the Norfolk broads. The second son, Sydney William Phipson Beale (1875-1960) trained as a barrister but became an officer in the territorial army at much the same time. He volunteered for active service in the Boer War and was called up again for the duration of the First World War. After the war, he retired from practice at the bar, and bought a farm in Sussex, which he continued to run until his death. The youngest son, Sir Samuel Richard Beale (1881-1964), kt., spent most of his working life with the Glasgow engineering firm of L. Sterne & Co., which made important advances in refrigeration technology in the early 20th century. He was President of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce in 1929-30, and succeeded his elder brother as Chairman of GKN, 1935-47. During the Second World War, he was a member of the Government's Export Council, and he was knighted for his service there in 1942. It was he who inherited Drumlamford House on his aunt's death in 1927, and it passed in turn to his son, Richard Samuel Beale (1921-73), after which it was apparently sold.

Warfield House (formerly Warfield Grove), Berkshire

A three-storey brick house of c.1760 (though reputedly built around the remains of a house of 1702 which was damaged by fire), apparently built as a replacement for the moated manor house of Heathley Hall, which stood across the road. The house has a pair of later stuccoed canted bays on either side of a loggia on the garden front. Inside, two panelled rooms and a staircase with twisted balusters. The house expensively restored after 2000 in a project which was highly commended in the annual Georgian Group conservation awards. Inside, two panelled rooms and a staircase with twisted balusters.

Warfield House: garden front, 1812, attributed to David Cox. Image: Guy Tyrwhitt-Drake.

Descent: Admiral Sir George Bowyer (1740-1800), 5th bt.; sold c.1796 to Sir John Coxe Hippisley (1746-1825), 1st bt.; sold by 1805 to Arthur Annesley (1744-1816), 8th Viscount Valentia and 1st Earl Mountnorris; ... sold 1858 to Samuel Beale (1803-74); to son, William Lansdowne Beale (1829-96); to son, Arthur Geach Beale (1857-1908), who sold 1906 to Sir George Pigot; sold 1914 to Sir Campbell Kirkman Finlay (c.1876-1937), kt; sold to Sir George Edward Leon (c.1875-1947), 2nd bt.; to son, Sir Ronald George Leon (1902-64), 3rd bt, who sold before 1958 to Maj. Patrick John Gold; sold c.1980; sold 2000. The house was leased from c.1810-58 to a series of short-term tenants, including a school.

Bryn Tirion, Bontddu, Merionethshire

A High Victorian Gothic house, designed by A.B. Phipson of Birmingham in 1874 for the retirement of William John Beale (1807-83), and built in a lovely position on the wooded banks of the Afon Mawddach. The house is built of local stone but richly detailed with dressings and chimneystacks in a golden sandstone. The house is big-boned but of only three bays, the right one a cross-wing with an ashlar two-storey canted bay overlooking the view over the estuary. The fenestration is varied, with mullioned windows of different types on each floor: cusped, uncusped, and finally with slim column shafts. 

Bryn Tirion (later Bontddu Hall): the side elevation of the house in the early 20th century.

At the rear of the house, and built into the rising ground behind it, is a tower of four storeys with heavy battlements. The house became a hotel (known as the Bontddu Hall Hotel) in the early 20th century and large additions were made to provide additional accommodation in the late 20th century. The hotel closed in 2004 and the house became a private residence and wedding venue, but unfortunately it was largely burned out in 2020 while renovation works were taking place. The surviving shell was for sale in 2021.

Descent: built 1874 for William John Beale (1807-83); to son, Charles Gabriel Beale (1843-1912); sold for conversion to an hotel.

Drumlamford, Barrhill, Ayrshire

A country villa in a remote setting, with spectacular views over Loch Dornal and the surrounding moorland. As first built the house, which is built of grey rock-faced Dalbeattie granite, was a restrained classical building with hipped roofs, the style of which is still apparent from the porch with pilasters and Doric columns in antis. The garden front has a broad three-bay centre projecting well forward from the bays to either side. It was designed by William Fraser, junior and built in 1838-41 (by his father, William Fraser, senior) for Rigby Wason (1797-1875), a Scot who had been MP for Ipswich on several occasions in the 1830s and early 1840s. Once work at Drumlamford was complete, Wason went straight on to built Corwar House, begun in 1842, and it appears that both houses were constructed partly to provide unemployment relief at a time of cyclical depression. Wason did live at Corwar, but never at Drumlamford, which was let to the Rotch family and later the Vernons. 

Drumlamford House: the entrance and garden fronts in recent years.

Unfortunately, at an unknown date but probably after the house was acquired by the Beales in 1898, the original roof was replaced by flat rendered gables with rather cutesy demi-oculi lighting the attic storey. It would be interesting to known when and why this change was made: there was a fire at the house in 1925, but it only affected the ground floor rooms, was extinguished quickly, and does not seem to have caused any major structural damage, so is unlikely to account for the change to the roof.

Descent: built for Rigby Wason (1797-1875); sold 1879 to Mr. G.F. Hayward; sold 1898 to Sir William Phipson Beale (1839-1922), 1st bt.; to widow, Mary (d. 1927), Lady Beale; to nephew, Sir Samuel Richard Beale (1881-1964), kt.; to son, Richard Samuel Beale (1921-73)...the estate was apparently sequestered in 1987 and sold on behalf of the creditors.

Standen House, East Grinstead, Sussex

An important and influential country house built in 1891-94 on a small estate comprising three farms to the south of East Grinstead, soon after the opening of a new branch railway had made the area accessible to families from London looking for a country retreat. Having acquired the site, James Beale (1840-1912) first commissioned the design of a garden from George B. Simpson, who selected and levelled the site for a new house and designed a rather old-fashioned 'Gardenesque' layout around it. Beale then asked the Arts & Crafts architect, Philip Webb, to design the new house and was persuaded to adjust the site so that it nestled a little more closely into the sloping ground than Simpson had intended. The site was adjacent to the partly 15th century Hollybush Farm, which Webb not only retained and adapted as outbuildings and stables, but the scale and materials of which (especially the use of brick, tile-hanging and weather-boarding) he adopted for the new house. In 1972 the house became one of the first Victorian properties accepted by the National Trust and opened to the public.

Standen House: the approach to the house lies through the archway in the centre between the old farmhouse on the right
and the service court on the left. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

Webb's new house is essentially an L-shaped block, consisting of a long narrow range containing the family rooms and, at right angles to it, the service range, with the angle between the two articulated by a brick water tower coated in yellow roughcast. An archway beyond the service range linked it to the 15th century farm buildings and provided the principal approach to the front of the house. The house was deliberately designed to be unpretentious, in deference to the Unitarian faith and long puritan tradition of the Beales (Mrs. Beale was a descendant of Oliver Cromwell), and the entrance front, which faces north onto the informal courtyard enclosed by the service wing and older farm buildings is notably dour. The south-facing garden front has a much more cheerful aspect, and commands sweeping views across the Sussex Weald.

Standen House: the jumbled and unprepossessing entrance front. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

For the visitor approaching the house, the first view of the entrance front is immensely disappointing. The two storey block is built of a dull almost greenish coloured brick and has nine bays that are neither symmetrical nor decisively asymmetrical: the overall effect is suggestive of a board school built on the cheap. The porch is unsettlingly set slightly off-centre, in a surround of sandstone quarried in the garden (which is perhaps the best feature of the front), and immediately next to it is a bay window, added to the hall in 1898 and built of a different stone. Webb's idea was that the different building material should mark it clearly as an addition (as recommended by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings), but in context it just adds to the visual confusion. The windows are generally Georgian style sash windows set in openings with segmental heads, but the outer pairs on the ground floor are disturbingly long and narrow. The six wooden dormer windows in the tiled roof are at least visually symmetrical, but their attempt to assert a coherence over the elevation below is rather spoilt by the giant asymmetrically placed brick chimneystacks.

Standen House: the visually more rewarding garden front. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

At the back of the house, the garden front is a very different and much more successful story. From here, the range containing the rooms along the entrance front appears a taller block terminating in the water tower and finished like the tower with yellow roughcast (which was applied because Webb was worried that plain brickwork might suffer from water penetration in this exposed position). Projecting forward from this range is a five bay block of two storeys (stone on the ground floor, and tile-hung above) with closely-spaced weatherboarded gables. This most attractive effect is said to have been influenced by a row of similarly closely-spaced gables, added c.1603-08 to Knole House (Kent). To the left of the five-bay block is the single-storey conservatory, which has an arcaded brick front and a glazed roof. 

Standen House: ground plan in 1910. Image: Country Life.

The design and the internal layout evolved in discussion between the architect and his clients in the summer of 1891, with the original proposals for a slightly larger house being reduced for reasons of economy and because Standen was intended to be a family house and not a venue for lavish weekend entertaining, like many new houses of this period. As finally built, in 1892-94, the house had five main reception rooms (hall, billiard room, drawing room, dining room and morning room) linked by staggered central corridor, as well as a conservatory which was from the beginning used as an informal room where afternoon tea might be served, and a business room with a corner fireplace. The oak staircase is in the centre of the house, and rises around a narrow open well; it has pierced splat balusters of Jacobean form and a plain but ramped handrail. 

Standen House: staircase. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

The entrance porch opens into a vestibule between the hall and business room. The hall is set at right-angles to the entrance front, with the bay window of 1898 added to its short end: before this was constructed it must have been a rather gloomy room, especially as the panelling was originally painted 'dragon's blood' red! At the same time as the bay window was built, the wall between the hall and the corridor behind it was taken down to make the room larger, and the present decorative scheme of off-white paint was introduced. Here, as in all the main rooms, the dominant feature is the fireplace and its overmantel, and the simple decoration is enhanced by the textiles, furniture, ceramics and other decorative items, mostly chosen with Webb's advice from the collection of Morris & Co. The surviving original furnishings have been greatly augmented by pieces donated by Arthur and Helen Grogan, custodians of the house from 1977-86, who also helped to provide an endowment for the property. 

Standen House: hall chimneypiece. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

Standen House: drawing room. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

Opening off the hall is the billiard room, which was also altered in 1898, when the alcove at the west end was formed. Behind the hall is the L-shaped drawing room, which enjoys the views over the garden terrace to the Weald beyond. This room, and the adjoining dining room, with its panelling painted a charming green, faithful to the original colour, perhaps give the best impression of what the house would have been like when it was the home of the Beales. One of the ways in which Webb's original design for the house was simplified was the omission of a dedicated library. The result is that there are bookcases here and there throughout the house, but especially in the billiard room and the morning room: the idea seems to have been to segregate the books of primarily male and female interest! The Beales found Standen 'delightful and wonderfully comfortable', and made few changes to the house, which had been lit from the beginning by electricity.

Standen House: dining room. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

Standen House: morning room. Image: Nick Kingsley. Some rights reserved.

Outside, Simpson's original garden layout was simplified and naturalised under the influence of Philip Webb, who helped Margaret Beale to adapt it to better reflect the style of the house. Together, they laid out the Terrace Walk in 1893, and in 1896-97 Backhouse & Sons of York formed the Quarry Garden out of the quarry from which stone had been dug for the house. Further work was done in 1910, when J. Cheal & Sons of Crawley formed the New Terrace or Rock Tip Walk at the highest point of the site and built the summerhouse aligned on West Hoathly church. After the National Trust took over the property in 1972, the garden was redesigned by Graham Stuart Thomas so that it could be maintained by a single gardener. The great storm of 1987 brought down many trees and damaged the conservatory, and the loss of the protective micro-climate created by the big trees meant that some further, tender, plants were also lost. A full-scale garden restoration began in 2007, but much remained to be done, especially in the Quarry Garden, in 2019.

Descent: built for James Samuel Beale (1840-1912); to widow, Margaret Beale (1847-1936); to daughters, Margaret Sarah Beale (1872-1947) and Helen Mary Beale (1885-1972), who bequeathed it to The National Trust.

Beale family of Drumlamford and Standen House

Beale, William (1770-1848). Son of Charles Beale (1732-80) of Atherstone (Warks) and his wife Hannah Brierley (1734-1821), baptised at Atherstone Old Meeting Presbyterian church, 18 November 1770. Apprenticed to Edward Thurman of Tamworth, plumber, 1783. Lead and glass merchant in Birmingham. JP for Warwickshire; Low Bailiff of Birmingham, 1822; a Birmingham Street Act Commissioner; Chairman of the Proprietors of the Birmingham & Worcester Canal. He married 1st, 14 August 1796 at Tamworth (Warks), Sarah (1773-1822), daughter of John Bailey of Tamworth (Staffs), 2nd, 7 August 1823 at All Saints & St. Laurence, Evesham (Worcs), Elizabeth Mary Hyatt (c.1776-1825), and 3rd, 10 April 1830 at St Peter & St Paul, Aston (Warks), Anne Colmore (c.1774-1865) of Birmingham, and had issue:

(1.1) Mary Beale (1798-1816), born 23 March 1798; died unmarried, 26 February 1816;

(1.2) Samuel Beale (1803-74) (q.v.);

(1.3) William John Beale (1807-83) (q.v.).

He died 8 September 1848 and was buried at the Old Meeting House, Birmingham, where he was commemorated by a monument; his will was proved in the PCC, 22 January 1849. His first wife died 2 August and was buried at the Old Meeting House, Birmingham, 7 August 1822. His second wife died 14 October 1825. His widow died aged 91 on 16 June 1865.

Samuel Beale (1803-74) 

Beale, Samuel (1803-74). Elder son of William Beale (1770-1848) and his first wife Sarah, born 4 June 1803. He started in business as a lead and glass merchant, but quickly diversified into banking, ironworks and railways and other enterprises. He was a director of the Birmingham and Midland Bank (later the Midland Bank) from 1836 and of the Union Bank of London; established the Parkgate Iron Works, Rotherham (Yorks WR) and ran it, 1842-64; was Chairman of the Midland Railway, 1844-64 and a director of the Crystal Palace Co., 1856. He was a JP for Birmingham, Low Bailiff of the Manor of Birmingham, 1834, and one of the first aldermen of the borough after it obtained its charter in 1838 (Mayor, 1841); Liberal MP for Derby, 1857–65 (the town having strong links with the Midland Railway Company). He was a lifelong Unitarian, and latterly a member of the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham. According to his obituarist, he 'possessed a genial and kindly nature, a cultivated taste, and broad and liberal sympathies.' He married 1st, 29 October 1822 at St Swithin Walcot, Bath, Emma (c.1801-47), daughter of Edmund Butcher of Sidmouth (Devon), Unitarian minister, and 2nd, 16 July 1856 in Chester (Ches.), Mary (1815-86), eldest daughter of John Johnson of Field House, Chester, and had issue:

(1.1) Sarah Eliza Beale (1823-43), born 25 July 1823; died unmarried, 16 December 1843;

(1.2) Edmund Franks Beale (1825-52), born 5 September 1825; educated at Birmingham, Trinity and Gonville & Caius Colleges, Cambridge (matriculated 1845; scholar 1846-48 and prizeman, but did not graduate), Inner Temple (admitted 1847); died unmarried, 10 January 1852; 

(1.3) Catherine Emma Beale (1827-1911), born 26 May 1827; married, 9 May 1854 at St George, Bloomsbury (Middx), Henry Oliver Sargant (1818-80), barrister-at-law, son of William Sargant, and had issue four sons and four daughters; lived latterly at Calverley Park, Tunbridge Wells; died 31 January 1911; will proved 14 October 1911 (estate £62,602);

(1.4) William Lansdowne Beale (1829-96), born 11 March 1829; succeeded his father as chairman of Parkgate Ironworks, Rotherham (Yorks WR), 1864 and inherited Warfield Grove from him in 1874, but lived at Waltham St. Lawrence (Berks); married 1st, 26 March 1857 at Willesden (Middx), Caroline (1835-78), daughter of Charles Geach MP, and had issue four sons and five daughters; married 2nd, 15 September 1881 at Hillmorton (Warks), Louisa (1842-84), daughter of Rev. John James Skally of Newent (Glos); married 3rd, 20 July 1886 at St Marylebone (Middx), his cousin, Elizabeth Sarah Beale (1838-1930); died 27 February 1896; will proved 27 April 1896 (effects £286,836).

He purchased Warfield Grove (Berks) in 1858.

He died at Warfield Grove on 11 September 1874; his will was proved 6 November 1874 (effects under £350,000). His first wife died 13 August 1847. His widow died in Liverpool, 28 September 1886; her will was proved 15 November 1886 (estate £13,816).

Beale, William John (1807-83). Younger son of William Beale (1770-1848) and his first wife Sarah, born 9 August 1807. He qualified as a solicitor in 1837, and entered into partnership with Thomas Colmore, a relative of his father's third wife, Ann. The success of the firm was built on managing the interests of the families to which the partners were related, most importantly the Colmore estate in central Birmingham. Through his brother, Beale also became legal adviser to the Midland Railway, and the large amount of parliamentary work associated with railway promotion led to the establishment of a separate London office in the late 1840s. The success of the firm's work for the Midland Railway attracted other large commercial and financial concerns as clients. Beale was a staunch Liberal in politics but did not take a major part in civic affairs. He was more prominent as a leading member of the Unitarian church in Birmingham,  initially at the New Meeting and later at the Church of the Messiah. His philanthropic work was focused on fundraising for the Birmingham General Hospital through the organization of the Birmingham Triennial Music Festivals (Chairman of the Orchestral Committee, 1870-76). He was a JP for Merionethshire. He married, 23 May 1837 at Edgbaston (Warks), Martha Phipson (1812-83), and had issue:

(1) Elizabeth Sarah Beale (1838-1930), born Oct-Dec 1838; married, 20 July 1886 at St Marylebone (Middx), as his second wife, her cousin, William Lansdowne Beale (1829-96) of The Manor House, Waltham St. Lawrence (Berks), son of Samuel Beale (1803-74), but had no issue; died 5 November 1930; will proved 12 December 1930 (estate £50,555);

(2) Sir William Phipson Beale (1839-1922), 1st bt. (q.v.);

(3) James Samuel Beale (1840-1912) (q.v.);

(4) Charles Gabriel Beale (1843-1912) (q.v.);

(5) Mary Emma Beale (1848-92), born 26 January 1848; married, 20 March 1880 at Christ Church, Paddington (Middx), William Bell Davies (1846-91) of Croxley Grove, Rickmansworth (Herts), son of Richard Davies, and had issue one son; died 15 May 1892; will proved 25 June 1892 (effects £12,894);

(6) Dr. Edwin Clifford Beale (1851-1953), born 16 October 1851; educated at Edgbaston, Harrow and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (matriculated 1870; BA 1874; MA 1877; MB 1880); elected MRCS, 1878 and FRCP, 1890; house physician at Guy's Hospital, Consulting Physician to the City of London Hospital for diseases of the chest and to the Royal Northern Hospital, London until he retired c.1911; Vice-President of the Royal Northern Hospital; lived in Chelsea (Middx); married, 16 November 1886 at Lillington (Warks), Mary Elizabeth (1852-1929), daughter of Algernon Sydney Field, solicitor, and had issue one son and one daughter; died aged 101 on 31 January 1953; will proved 8 April 1953 (estate £33,501).

He purchased the Bryntirion estate at Dolgellau in north Wales and built a residence there in 1874.

He died at Dolgellau on 21 May 1883, and was buried at Key Hill Cemetery, Birmingham; his will was proved 12 July 1883 (effects £115,748). His wife died 16 August 1883; administration of her goods was granted 19 June 1884 (effects £2,543).

Sir William Phipson Beale
(1839-1922), 1st bt. 

Beale, Sir William Phipson (1839-1922), 1st bt. Eldest son of William John Beale (1807-83) and his wife Martha Phipson, born 29 October 1839. Educated for industry and spent a brief period at the Sheffield ironworks (of which his uncle Samuel was a director) before attending Lincolns Inn (admitted, 1864; called, 1867; bencher, 1892). Barrister-at-law (QC 1888). A Liberal in politics, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in North Warwickshire, 1885, and Birmingham (three times), before being elected as MP for South Ayrshire, 1906-18. He was elected a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1860, and was created a baronet, 3 July 1912. He married, 5 August 1869 at Edgbaston (Warks), Mary (1846-1927), elder daughter of William Thompson of Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) and Edgbaston, but had no issue.

He lived at Whitehall Court, Westminster, and Drumlamford (Ayrshire), which he purchased in 1898.

He died in Dorking (Surrey), 13 April 1922, when his baronetcy became extinct; his will was proved 24 May 1922 (estate £95,378) and certified in Edinburgh, 31 May 1922. His widow died 12 January 1927; her will was confirmed, 3 May 1927 (estate £19,825).

James Samuel Beale (1840-1912) 

Beale, James Samuel (1840-1912). Second son of William John Beale (1807-83) and his wife Martha Phipson, born 5 December 1840. Educated at Edgbaston and University College, London (matriculated 1858; BA 1861). He was an articled clerk in his father's office from 1860, and after being admitted as a solicitor in 1864, became manager of the firm's London office from 1866-1905. He acted as solicitor for the Midland Railway, 1867-1905, and his knowledge of railway law, and his skill in negotiations and the conduct of parliamentary procedure were widely recognized and frequently called on by royal commissions, departmental committees, and the Railway Companies Association, to which he was also solicitor for some time. He became a director of the Midland Railway on his retirement from practice in 1905, and was also chairman of L. Sterne & Co. Ltd, a Glasgow-based engineering firm, 1882-1910. President of the Law Society, 1908. JP for Sussex. He married, 19 April 1870 at Lillington (Warks), Margaret (1847-1936), daughter of Algernon Sidney Field (1813-1907), solicitor, and had issue:

(1) Amy Elizabeth Beale (1871-1946), born 12 February 1871; married, 20 September 1902 at Essex Church, Kensington (Middx), Edgar Worthington (1856-1934), engineer and secretary of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1898-1920, second son of Samuel Barton Worthington of Mill Bank, Bowden (Ches.), and had issue one son and three daughters; died 2 October 1946; will proved 22 January 1947 (estate £50,966);

(2) Margaret Sarah Beale (1872-1947), born 29 July 1872; lived at Standen with her mother and unmarried sister; interested herself in mental health issues and was a member of the Central Organisation for Mental Welfare and Hon. Secretary and co-founder of the 'Hermitage Training Home for Female Mental Defectives' at Fairwarp (Sussex); died 5 August 1947; will proved 21 November 1947 (estate £100,762);

(3) Sir John Field Beale, kt. (1874-1935), born 15 January 1874; educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1892; BA 1896; rowing blue, 1898; MA 1922); solicitor; a director of the Midland Railway and later the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (Deputy Chairman, 1919); the Midland Bank; the Legal Insurance Co. Ltd. (Chairman), L. Sterne & Co. of Glasgow (Chairman, 1924-35) and Guest Keen & Nettlefold (Chairman); served in First World War as Chairman of Wheat Executive; First Secretary, Ministry of Food, 1918; joint UK representative on Allied Supreme Council of Supply and Relief, 1919; appointed KBE, 1918, and was also made a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy, 1917, an Officer of the Legion d'honneur (France), 1918, and a Commander of the Crown of Leopold (Belgium), 1919; Vice-Chairman of the Royal Commission on Wheat Supplies, 1935; a freemason from 1896; lived at North Bay, Oulton Broad (Norfk) and was a JP for Norfolk; married, 12 September 1901 at Christ Church, Cockfosters (Middx), Daisy Emma (1874-1963), daughter of James Aylward Game of New Barnet (Middx), and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 9 December 1935; will proved 11 January 1936 (estate £35,726);

(4) Sydney William Phipson Beale (1875-1960), born 11 September 1875; educated at Harrow, Trinity College, Oxford (matriculated 1894; BA 1897) and Lincolns Inn (admitted 1897; called 1900); barrister-at-law and an officer in the militia battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment (2nd Lt., 1897; Lt., 1899; Capt., 1903; Maj., 1916), who saw active service in the Boer War and First World War; an extensive account of his military career can be found here; in 1918 he gave up his legal practice and bought Cobnor House, Chidham (Sussex) where he farmed for the rest of his life; married, 23 May 1912 at East Grinstead (Sussex), Margaret Louisa Chichester (1886-1969), nurse and masseuse, eldest daughter of Edgar March Crookshank of Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, and had issue one son and two daughters; died 28 June 1960; will proved 9 December 1960 (estate £64,892);

(5) Dorothy Beale (1877-1969), born 30 January 1877, and was baptised into the Church of England at Leatherhead (Surrey), 16 May 1913; married, 23 January 1902 at St Mary Abbots, Kensington (Middx), Harold George Brown (1876-1949), solicitor, director of the BBC and BOAC, eldest son of Harold Brown of Chester Terrace, Regent's Park, and had issue three sons and three daughters; died aged 91 on 16 January 1969; will proved 13 March 1969 (estate £62,777);

(6) Sir Samuel Richard Beale (1881-1964), kt. (q.v.);

(7) Helen Mary Beale (1885-1972) (q.v.).

He purchased an estate comprising three farms near East Grinstead (Sussex) in 1890, and employed Philip Webb to build a new country house, Standen House, there in 1891-94.

He died at Standen, 28 August 1912; his will was proved 2 October 1912 (estate £150,000). His widow died 9 March 1936; her will was proved April 1936 (estate £18,181).

Sir Samuel Richard Beale (1881-1964), kt. 

Beale, Sir Samuel Richard (1881-1964), kt. Third and youngest son of James Samuel Beale (1840-1912) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Algernon Sidney Field, solicitor, born 7 February 1881. Educated at Marlborough and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1899; BA 1903; rowing blue, 1903). Employed by L. Sterne & Co. from 1903 (director and general manager, 1912; managing director, 1924; chairman, 1935). Chairman of GKN in succession to his brother, 1935-47. President of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, 1929-30 and of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, 1934-36. Member of the Export Council, 1940. He was described as having a sense of humour and the ability to make quick decisions, and was said to have adopted 'an uncomplicated lifestyle'. He was appointed KBE, 1942, and was author of The Crown Ironworks: the history of L. Sterne & Co. Ltd., 1874–1949 (1951). He married, 23 April 1908 at Kingston-on-Thames (Surrey), Sylvia Constance (1885-1953), daughter of Horace Bell (1839-1903), and had issue:

(1) Adam Malcolm Beale (1917-67), born in Glasgow, 4 February 1917; served in Second World War in Kings Shropshire Light Infantry (2nd Lt., 1940); lived at The Manor, Shipham (Som.) married, 16 November 1946 at St Michael, Belgravia, Westminster (Middx), Alison Sylvia Lorraine (1923-2004), daughter of Lawrence Gray of Johannesburg (South Africa), and had issue two daughters; died 14 January 1967; will proved 9 June 1967 (estate £54,498);

(2) William Horace Beale (1920-96), born in Glasgow, 21 January 1920; Foreign Office official; married, 3 July 1948, Jean Florita (1926-2005), daughter of Maj. Donald McBarnet, and had issue two daughters; died 28 September 1996; will proved 11 December 1996;

(3) Richard Samuel Beale (1921-73), born in Glasgow, 18 January 1921; inherited Drumlamford from his father in 1964; died 13 December 1973; will proved 11 April 1974 (estate £333,352).

He inherited Drumlamford House in 1927 under the terms of his uncle's will.

He died at Drumlamford, 10 October 1964; his will was proved 8 January 1965 (estate £123,648). His wife died 19 May 1953; her will was proved 8 September 1953 (estate £13,966).

Helen Mary Beale (1885-1972) 

Beale, Helen Mary (1885-1972). Fourth and youngest daughter of James Samuel Beale (1840-1912) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Algernon Sidney Field, solicitor, born 9 November 1885. Educated at Norland Place School, Kensington and Roedean. During the First World War she served as a VAD nurse in France, 1915-16, and then joined the Women's Royal Naval Service (Deputy Principal, Dover, 1918; Divisional Director, Devonport, 1918). She was noted for her exceptional administrative ability, and was awarded the OBE for her war service, 1919. After the war, she continued to work for the Red Cross (Asst. Commandant, Sussex, 1924) and became a committee member of the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, 1934-63. As a young woman she travelled widely with her parents and unmarried sister, and in the 1920s made regular skiing trips to Switzerland with her relations. She was unmarried and without issue.

She and her unmarried sister inherited Standen House from her mother in 1936 and made members of the wider family welcome there until shortly before her death. By her will, the house was bequeathed to The National Trust in 1972.

She died in 13 May 1972; her will was proved 1 June 1972 (estate £513,441).

Charles Gabriel Beale (1843-1912) 

Beale, Charles Gabriel (1843-1912). Third son of William John Beale (1807-83) and his wife Martha Phipson, born 10 May 1843. Educated at Edgbaston and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1861; BA 1865; MA 1881). He joined his father's firm and trained as a solicitor, becoming solicitor to the Birmingham and Midland Bank and a legal adviser to the Midland Railway. In retirement he was a member of the Royal Commission on the working of the Railway Conciliation Scheme, 1911. He was a Liberal in politics, and a Unitarian in religion, and he became heavily involved in Birmingham's municipal affairs, serving on many of the corporation's important committees. JP for Birmingham; Mayor of Birmingham, 1897-1900, and on the formation of the University of Birmingham he became its first Vice-Chancellor, 1900. He succeeded his father as a principal organizer of the Birmingham Triennial Music Festivals. High Sheriff of Merionethshire, 1907-08. He married, 7 August 1868, Alice (d. 1940), daughter of Timothy Kenrick, manufacturer (whose sisters married Joseph Chamberlain and Thomas Martineau), and they had issue:

(1) Hubert Kenrick Beale (1869-1954) (q.v.);

(2) Edith Mary Beale (1870-1961), born 23 October 1870; married, 18 July 1898 at the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham, George Penkivil Slade (1866-1925), son of George Penkivil Slade of Sydney, New South Wales (Australia), and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 10 November 1961; will proved 30 January 1962 (estate £49,286);

(3) Edmund Phipson Beale (1872-1952), born 7 March 1872; solicitor, partner in Beale & Co. of Birmingham from c.1903; married, 7 August 1908, Annie Lucy (1876-1953), daughter of William Arthur Smith of Edgbaston, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 5 February 1952; will proved 5 May 1952 (estate £78,445);

(4) Norah Beale (1874-1961), born 24 January 1874; married, 1906, Wilfrid Byng Kenrick (1872-1962), son of William Kenrick (1831-1919), and had issue three sons and one daughter; died 24 April 1961; will proved 28 July 1961 (estate £19,651).

He lived at Maple Bank, Edgbaston, Birmingham and Bryntirion, Dolgellau (Merioneths), the latter being sold after his death for conversion to an hotel.

He died in Birmingham, 1 September 1912, just four days after his elder brother. His will was proved about November 1912 (estate £135,637). His widow died 20 March 1940; her will was proved about August 1940 (estate £18,970).

Beale, Hubert Kenrick (1869-1954). Elder son of Charles Gabriel Beale (1843-1912) and his wife Alice, daughter of Timothy Kenrick, manufacturer, born 13 November 1869. Educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1888; BA 1891; MA 1902). He joined his father's legal practice in Birmingham, was admitted a solicitor, 1895, and was a partner from the late 1890s. He was Chairman of the South Staffordshire Waterworks Co., 1913-45 and a director of Tarmac Ltd and the Legal Insurance Co. Ltd. He was a member of Birmingham Corporation from 1914 (alderman from 1932), and chaired its Electricity Supply Committee, 1922-32, and Water Committee, 1931-44. He was also one of the Guardians of the Birmingham Assay Office. He married, 27 November 1903 at the Church of the Messiah, Birmingham, Mabel (1868-1940), second daughter of John Arthur Kenrick (1829-1926), and had issue:

(1) Malcolm Weatherley Beale (1904-89), born 6 August 1904; solicitor; partner in Beale & Co. of Birmingham from c.1930-c.1974; married, 19 October 1927 at Edgbaston, Elsie Annie (1906-98), daughter of Frederick Heacock of Warley (Staffs), dairyman, and had issue two daughters; died 22 October 1989; will proved 6 December 1989 (estate under £100,000);

(2) Claire Marion Beale (1907-98), born 2 July 1907; married, 6 October 1933 at Edgbaston, Dr. Philip Joseph Ganner (1904-70) of Acocks Green, Birmingham, obstetric surgeon, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 9 February 1998; will proved 14 May 1998.

He lived at The Elms, Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham.

He died 4 February 1954; his will was proved 4 May 1954 (estate £97,421). His wife died 27 October 1940; her will was proved about January 1941 (estate £25,667).

Principal sources

Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 1924, p. 227; M.C. Davis, The castles and mansions of Ayrshire, 1991, p. 244; S. Kirk, Philip Webb: pioneer of Arts & Crafts architecture, 2005, pp. 150-60; National Trust guidebook to Standen House, 2007; R. Haslam, J. Orbach & A. Voelcker, The buildings of Wales: Gwynedd, 2009, p. 560; R. Close & A. Riches, The buildings of Scotland: Ayrshire and Arran, 2012, p. 295;

http://www2.westsussex.gov.uk/learning-resources/LR/sydney_william_phipson_bealee9ce.pdf?docid=5ef114fb-2ecc-41f9-a57e-9f0e0e46633f&version=-1

Location of archives

Beale family of Birmingham: family correspondence and papers, 1718-1937 [Birmingham Archives, MS3597]

Beale family of Standen: deeds, estate and family papers, including records relating to the building of Standen, 1760-20th cent. [West Sussex Record Office, Standen MSS]

Beale & Co., solicitors, of Birmingham: clients papers, 17th-20th cent. [Birmingham Archives, MS3]

Coat of arms

None recorded.

Can you help?

• Can anyone supply a photograph of Drumlamford in its original condition, before the roof was altered, or explain when and why the change to the roof was made?
• 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 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 22 December 2021, and was updated 29 January 2022. I am most grateful to Martin John Kenrick for corrections.