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Beauchamp
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Beauchamp

hastening to make his peace, on the accession of Henry, he was one of the witnesses to his reissue of the charter (11 Nov. 1216), and was restored to his shrievalty and castellanship (Pat. 1 Hen. Ill, m. 10). He also Attested Henry's 'Third Charter,' 11 Feb. 1225. In May 1226 and in January 1227 he was appointed an itinerant justice, and 14 April 1236 he died (Ann. Tewk. 101), leaving by his wife (a daughter of his guardian, Roger de Mortimer), whom he had married in 1212, and who died in 1225 (Ann, Worc. 400), a son and heir, William, who married the eventual heiress of the earls of Warwick, and was grandfather of Guy, earl of Warwick [see Beauchamp, Guy de].

[Dugdale's Baronage, i. 226; Foss's Judges of England. 1848, ii. 231.]

J. H. R.


BEAUCHAMP, Sir WALTER de (fl. 1415), lawyer and soldier, was the younger son of John de Beauchamp, of Powyke and Alcester, the grandfather of John, first Baron Beauchamp of Powyke. At first he studied the law, but afterwards distinguished himself as a soldier under Henry IV and Henry V in the French wars. Upon his return from France after the battle of Agincourt, he was elected knight of the shire for Wiltshire, and on 16 March 1415-16 was chosen speaker of the House of Commons. This office, however, Sir Walter did not hold long, as parliament was dissolved in the same year. He was employed as counsel by his relative, Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, to argue his claim of precedency before the House of Commons. This quarrel between the Earl of Warwick and John Mowbray, earl marshal, which took up much of the time of the session of 1425, was terminated by the restoration of the forfeited dukedom of Norfolk to Mowbray. Sir Walter was married twice, first to Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Peter de la Mere; and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Roche, knight. By this second marriage he had three children, one of whom, William, was, in 1449, summoned to parliament as fourth Baron St. Amand, in right of his wife, the great-granddaughter of Almeric, third Baron St. Amand. Another was Richard, bishop of Salisbury [see Beauchamp, Richard de, 1430?-1481].

[Manning's Lives of the Speakers, pp. 60-2; Burke's Extinct Peerage (1883), pp. 32 and 34.]

G. F. R. B.


BEAUCHAMP, WILLIAM de (d. 1260), baronial leader and judge, succeeded his father, Simon de Beauchamp, lord of Bedford, in 1207-8. He took part in John's expedition to Poitou (1214), but joined the baronial host at Stamford, Easter 1216 (M. Paris, 253-5), and entertained them at Bedford as they marched on London. He was among the baronial leaders excommunicated by name 16 Dec. 1215 (ib. 227), and his castle was seized the same month by John's general, Fulk de Bréaute, who was allowed to retain it. Belonging to the extreme party, he fought with them at Lincoln (19 May 1217), and was there taken prisoner by the royal forces (M. Paris), but made his peace before the end of the year (Claus. 1 Hen. III, m. 4). On the capture and destruction of Bedford Castle in 1224 [see Bréaute, Fulk de], the site was restored to him (Claus. 8 Hen. III, m. 7 dors.; cf. Royal Letters, 1085). He acted as sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire 1234-7, and on 6 July 1234 was appointed a baron of the exchequer, in which capacity he reappears in 1237. He seems to have attained an unusual age, dying, according to Foss, in 1262, but according to the 'Annals of Dunstable ' (p. 215), which are probably right, in 1260. His younger son John fell at Evesham (T. Wykes), having succeeded his brother William shortly before.

[Dugdale's Baronags, i. 223; Foss's Judges of England, 1848, ii. 234.]

J. H. R.


BEAUCLERK, Lord AMELIUS (1771–1846), admiral, third son of Aubrey, fifth duke of St. Albans, was entered on the books of the Jackal cutter in 1782, and in 1783 was appointed to the Salisbury, bearing the flag of Vice-admiral John Campbell on the Newfoundland station. Afterwards he served in the West Indies under Commodore Gardner, and returned to England in 1789 as acting lieutenant of the Europa, in which rank, however, he was not confirmed till the Spanish armament of the following year. In 1792 he went to the Mediterranean as lieutenant of the Druid frigate, and on 16 Sept. 1793 was posted by Lord Hood and appointed to the command of the Nemesis of 28 guns. In March 1794 he was transferred to the Juno of 32 guns, and attached to the squadron employed, under Admiral Hotham, in the blockade of Toulon. The Juno was also in company with the fleet in the action of 14 March 1795, which resulted in the capture of the Ça ira and Censeur, and was one of the squadron, under Commodore Taylor, which convoyed the homeward trade in the following autumn, and when the Censeur was recaptured by the French off Cape St. Vincent (7 Oct.) On his return to England Lord Amelius was appointed to the Dryad frigate, of 44 guns and 251 men, and on the coast of Ireland, on 13 June 1796, captured