Lord Sidney Beauclerk PC (27 February 1703 –23 November 1744) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1733 to 1744. He acquired a reputation as a fortune hunter.
Lord Sidney Beauclerk PC (27 February 1703 –23 November 1744) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1733 to 1744. He acquired a reputation as a fortune hunter.
Beauclerk was the fifth son of the 1st Duke of St Albans and his wife Lady Diana de Vere, daughter and heiress of Aubrey de Vere, 20th and last Earl of Oxford. [1] He was a grandson of King Charles II and Nell Gwyn.[ citation needed ] In 1718 he was at Eton College. He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1721 and was awarded MA in 1727 and DCL in 1733. [2] He sought fortunes by paying court to elderly ladies and he was described in 1727 as 'Nell Gwyn in person, with the sex altered'. On 9 December 1736, he married Mary Norris, daughter and heiress of Thomas Norris, MP of Speke, Lancashire. His fortune-hunting eventually brought dividend in 1737 when he was bequeathed the Windsor estates of Richard Topham [1] located in and around Old Windsor.
Beauclerk stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in a contest at Marlow at a by-election in 1732 on the interest of Edmund Waller. He was returned as Member of Parliament for Windsor at a by-election on 16 May 1733, joining his brother Lord Vere Beauclerk. He was returned unopposed at the 1734 British general election. In March 1739, he presented to Parliament the Georgia Society's petition for a grant, and he was elected at his own request to the common council of the Society. He was active until 1740, when his attendance fell off. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1740, and was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household later that year, being returned again at the consequential by-election. He was returned again at Windsor at the 1741 British general election, but lost his place at Court on the fall of Walpole in 1742. [1]
Beauclerk died on 23 November 1744, leaving an only son, Topham Beauclerk who was a friend of Samuel Johnson. [1] He married Diana, Viscountess Bolingbroke and St John (née Spencer) and lived at Speke Hall. [3] They have many surviving descendants among whom are the present Marquises de Valero de Urría.
Duke of St Albans is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1684 for Charles Beauclerk, 1st Earl of Burford, then 14 years old. King Charles II had accepted that Burford was his illegitimate son by Nell Gwyn, an actress, and awarded him the dukedom just as he had conferred those of Monmouth, Southampton, Grafton, Northumberland, and Richmond and Lennox on his other illegitimate sons who married.
Eleanor Gwyn was an English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England.
Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St. Albans, KG was an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England by his mistress Nell Gwyn.
Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, also styled Earl of Burford by courtesy, is a British aristocrat and heir to the peerage title of Duke of St Albans.
Murray de Vere Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans,, styled Earl of Burford from 1964 until 1988, is an English duke. He was a member of the House of Lords from 1988 until 1999.
Beauclerk or Beauclerc is an English surname, from Anglo-Norman meaning "fine scholar". It is also the family name of the Duke of St Albans.
Topham Beauclerk was a celebrated English wit and a friend of Samuel Johnson and Horace Walpole.
Charles Beauclerk, 2nd Duke of St Albans, KG KB was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1718 until 1726 when he succeeded to a peerage as Duke of St Albans. He was an illegitimate grandson of King Charles II.
William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans was an English aristocrat.
Charles Frederick Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans, OBE was a British soldier and hereditary peer.
Diana Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans, born Lady Diana de Vere, was a British courtier. She was Mistress of the Robes to Caroline, Princess of Wales from 1714 to 1717. She was one of the Hampton Court Beauties of Mary II of England.
Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, KG, PC was an English peer and military officer who fought on the Royalist side during the English Civil War.
Admiral Vere Beauclerk, 1st Baron Vere, known as Lord Vere Beauclerk until 1750, was a Royal Navy officer, British peer and politician who sat in the House of Commons for 24 years from 1726 to 1750. After serving various ships in the Mediterranean and then commanding the third-rate HMS Hampton Court, he joined the Board of Admiralty, ultimately serving as Senior Naval Lord.
Lady Diana Beauclerk was an English noblewoman and celebrated artist.
Sir Thomas Reeve, was a British justice.
Lord James Beauclerk was an Anglican clergyman who served as the Bishop of Hereford from 1746 to 1787.
Lieutenant-General Lord George Beauclerk was a British Army officer, the sixth son of Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans by his wife Diana, daughter of Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford.
Charles George Beauclerk was an English politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Richmond from 1796 to 1798.
Lord William Beauclerk was a British army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1724 to 1733.
Richard Topham (1671–1730) was an English landowner and politician, Member of Parliament for New Windsor from 1698 to 1713. He is known also as a collector.