Catalogue description DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE BEAUMONT FAMILY

Watt, Helen, fl 1981, of Wilmslow, Cheshire

• Beaumont family of London

Benjamin Beaumont was born on 8 December 1812 to John Beaumont and his wife Catherine, and was baptised on 12 February 1813 at St Mary's, Marylebone in London. His father was a servant at the time. On 24 November 1852, he married Amelia Joanna Simpkin, born 7 April, baptised 29 April 1823, also at St Mary's, Marylebone, the daughter of Joseph Simpkin, a builder, and his wife Joanna née Keetley. The marriage was supposed to have been an elopement; the couple were married in Brighton. At the time, Benjamin Beaumont gives the profession of his father as Horse Dealer, and Amelia gives hers as a Gentleman. Perhaps it was this discrepancy in social status which caused their marriage to be disapproved of. Benjamin was a Merchant at the time of his marriage, but the exact nature of his work is not known. They had three children:

Henry Keetley Beaumont, born in 1853, baptised 24 April 1854 at St Mary's, Marylebone. He is supposed to have been 'a bit of a lad' & a man of independent means. Very little else is known about him, apart from the fact that he died in 1915 in a Mental Nursing Home and was buried in Abney Park Cemetary on 8 February 1915.

Catherine Joanna Beaumont, born 14 August 1855 at Tranquil Cottage, Whitchurch in Oxfordshire. Her father's profession is now given as Gentleman. She married late in life, on 17 July 1895, Thomas Pole Wansbrough J. P. who was a widower aged about 68, who had followed his father in buying up and renting out property in Newport, Monmouthshire, his home town. They were married at the Wesleyan Chapel at Sandown on the Isle of Wight by his brother, Rev Charles Wansbrough, assisted by her brother-in-law, Rev Wesley Woolmer, the incumbent of the Chapel at the time. The Wansbroughs had one son, Thomas Beaumont, born 10 June 1898. Thomas Pole Wansbrough died in 1908, but his wife lived until she was over 90, dying in 1947. Their son, known as Monty was educated at a Boarding School in North Wales, and after a short while in business, which he disliked, he trained as a doctor and became a Radiologist. He married Ellen Frances Cook after the First World War and they had one son who died young and one daughter, Pat. Monty died in 1976, but his wife and dughter still live in Bristol.

Amelia Ann Beaumont, born 18 December 1857 also at Tranquil Cottage. She was educated at the same school in Margate as her elder sister and is thought to have studied at one of the London Colleges of Music. On 13 October 1885, she married Rev Wesley Woolmer at the Cliftonville Chapel in Margate, the ceremony being performed by his father, Rev Theophilus Woolmer. They had six children and details of their lives, together with that of their father are attached to deposit 1428. Amelia died on 15 September 1932 in Ealing.

Benjamin Beaumont died on 15 July 1858 at Tranquil Cottage, Whitchurch as a result of Apoplexy, Epilepsy followed by Coma. In his will, his former address was 4, Park Road, Regents Park, London. He left effects amounting to under £4,000, leaving legacies to his wife, brother William, sister-in-law Ann, and sister Mary Ann. Amelia Beaumont died 9 February 1897 at her home, 2, Manilla Crescent, Weston-super-Mare. She left £9,716 10s 1d.

Amelia Joanna Simpkin had one sister who survived infancy, Mary Jemima Simpkin, baptised at St Mary's, Marylebone on 4 April 1821. On 7 August 1845, she married Charles Jack, a Merchant of Inverness Lodge, Ealing, at Kensington Parish Church. They had several children, although the dates of birth of all of them have not been verified.

Their children were:

Mary Amelia Jack, died unmarried, c. 1920's.

Thomas Godfrey Jack, born in 1849, like his cousin Henry Beaumont, supposed to have been 'a bit of a lad', died died 1926.

Ellen Joanna Jack, born 1853, baptised 23 September 1853 at St Andrew's, Enfield. She died unmarried on 10 February 1946.

Florence Jack, who died quite young in 1888.

There are thought to have been other children as well, Arthur, possibly William who was supposed to have died young after drinking poisonous fly-paper water! and also possibly twins, but nothing is known about any of these.

From what relatives can remember, these cousins of the Field Officer's maternal grandmother's mother were very wealthy, living in a huge house which was found to have been in Enfield, near London. They were very aristocratic, and formal in manner, and anyone who visited them had to be on very best behaviour. For some reason, the father, Charles Jack never allowed his daughters to marry, and of all the children, only Arthur is thought to have married.

Charles Jack, who seems to have made his fortune out of being a builder and property developer, died in 1896. His wife was still alive in 1891, but the exact date of her death is not known.