Astronomical Societies, and a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a corresponding member of the Institute of France and of the United States Naval Lyceum.
Sir Francis married Alicia Magdalena Wilson. Their son, Francis Lestock Beaufort, born in 1815, served in the Bengal civil service from 1837 to 1876, and was for many years judge of the twenty-four Purgunnahs, Calcutta. He was the author of the well-known 'Digest of the Criminal Law Procedure in Bengal' (1850), and died in 1879.
[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. vi. (supplement, part ii.), 82; O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.; Gent. Mag. 1858, i. 118; information from W. M. Beaufort, Esq.]
BEAUFORT, HENRY (d. 1447), bishop
of Winchester and cardinal, was the second
and illegitimate son of John of Gaunt by
Catherine, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford.
His parents having been married in 1396,
their children were the next year declared
legitimate by Richard II, and the king's patent of legitimation was confirmed by parliament. In common with his brother John,
earl of Somerset, and Thomas, duke of Exeter,
Henry took his name from Beaufort Castle,
in Anjou, the place of his birth. He is said
to have studied at Oxford, but he spent the
greater part of his youth at Aachen, where
he read the civil and the canon law. He
was made prebendary of Thame 1389, and of
Sutton 1391, both in the diocese of Lincoln.
He held the deanery of Wells in 1397, and,
having been appointed bishop of Lincoln by
papal provision, was consecrated 14 July
1398, after the death of John Bokyngham
[see Bokyngham, John]. The next year
he became chancellor of the university of
Oxford. The election of his half-brother,
Henry of Lancaster, to the throne, gave the
Bishop of Lincoln a prominent place in the
kingdom. Forming a kind of constitutional
court party, he and his brother steadily upheld the Lancastrian dynasty, while at the
same time they were opposed to the masterful
policy of Archbishop Arundel [q. v.]. Bishop
Beaufort was made chancellor in 1403, and
in the same year was named as a member
of the king's 'great and continual council.'
On the death of William of Wykeham, in
1404, he was nominated to the bishopric of
Winchester by papal provision, and in the
spring of the next year received the spiritualities of the see. He resigned the chancellorship
on his translation to Winchester. He is said
to have been the tutor of the Prince of Wales.
He certainly exercised considerable influence
over him. While the king was in a great
measure guided by Arundel, the prince attached himself to the younger and more
popular party, of which the Bishop of Winchester was the head. In 1407 the archbishop, who was then chancellor, gained a
triumph over the Beauforts; for when in
that year the king exemplified and confirmed
the patent of their legitimation granted by
Richard, he inserted in it words ('excepta
regali dignitate') which expressly excluded
them from the succession. As, however,
these words do not occur in the document
confirmed by parliament in the preceding
reign, they have no legal value, though probably this fact was not recognised at the time.
The strength of Bishop Beaufort and the
weakness of the archbishop alike lay in the
parliament. Arundel felt himself unable to
continue in office, and in 1410 Thomas Beaufort was made chancellor. As the new
chancellor was not installed when the parliament met, his brother the bishop declared
the cause of summons. Taking as the text
of his discourse 'It becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness,' he dwelt on the relations of
England with France and Scotland, and on
the duty of loyalty to the crown. Dr. Stubbs,
who in his 'Constitutional History' (iii. c. 18)
has given a masterly sketch of the career of
Bishop Beaufort as an English politician, has
pointed out the probability that during the
administration of Thomas Beaufort the Prince
of Wales ruled in the name of his father;
for during this period the illness of Henry IV
seems to have rendered him incapable of
performing the duties of kingship. The rule
of the prince involved the predominance of
the Bishop of Winchester in the council.
The divergence of the parties of Beaufort
and Arundel came to a climax in 1411. A
family quarrel probably hastened the issue
of the struggle. On the death of John Beaufort, earl of Somerset, the bishop's brother,
in 1410, Thomas of Lancaster, the earl's
nephew, married his widow, and demanded
that Bishop Beaufort should give up to him
part of a sum of 30,000 marks, which he
had received as the earl's executor. The
bishop refused the demand, and in the quarrel
which ensued the Prince of Wales upheld his
uncle against his brother. Prince Henry and
the bishop were alike anxious to secure the
continuance of their power. With the assent
of the numerous lords of their party they
tried to prevail on the king to resign the
crown, and to allow the prince to reign in
his stead. The king was much angered at
this request, and dismissed the prince from
the council. Bishop Beaufort and his whole
party seem to have shared the disgrace of
the prince; for in November the commons
prayed the king to thank the Prince of Wales,
