George Beaumont - Land Surveyor (4) - Winthorpe

The previous articles on George were about his early career and especially his work for Robert Harvey, a period which ended unhappily.  And yet the clouds had a silver lining.

I showed that (having finished with Mr Harvey and with his former Principal, Richard Court) George established himself in about September 1818 at Newark. I said that his family, particularly his three uncles Rev. Thomas Beaumont, Walter Beaumont, and Abel Beaumont, had many connections in Nottinghamshire and may have introduced him to potential clients and other useful contacts in Newark.

Now it seems that the introduction was not through a useful uncle, but rather, a useful aunt!

My family always knew that George lived at Winthorpe (very near Newark) for about the next twenty years. He married in July 1821 and newspaper announcements of that happy event (Leeds Intelligencer and other papers) say that he was "of Winthorpe House" - somewhat implying that he occupied one of the principal houses there. Those announcements contain other errors so I didn't think I could take them as good evidence of exactly which house George lived in, but it did seem to raise the question of whether he was working for a main land owner at Winthorpe.

I knew that a gentleman named Roger Pocklington had been a land owner at Winthorpe and that he became bankrupt in 1809. Soon after that, his property was of course sold. The sale particulars are in Nottinghamshire Archives dated 17-18 Jan. 1810. I knew that somewhat later a gentleman named Slingsby Duncombe had owned property there, but it seemed there was a gap. Slingsby Duncombe is mentioned in newspaper reports in context of nearby Langford, but not in context of Winthorpe itself until somewhat later.

Back to the British Newspaper Archive......

An advertisement for the estate stated that at Winthorpe there was a "mansion-house lately occupied by Roger Pocklington, the banker," with 80 or 90 acres. It now appears that the purchaser, of that, was John Elliott of Nottingham, often referred to as Colonel Elliott. 

The British Press Monday 29 January 1810 reported that:-

Col. Elliot [sic] of Nottingham has purchased Mr Pocklington's mansion at Winthorpe, Yorkshire [sic] with about a hundred acres around it, for fifteen thousand guineas; the wood to be taken at a separate valuation, and every tree to be valued, to the amount of a shilling.

Colonel John Elliott was the brother of William Elliott Elliott Esq of Gedling, whose wife Frances (Fanny) (nee Beaumont) was the land surveyor George Beaumont's aunt. I have published a piece on this blog about the Elliotts' fine house in Castlegate, Nottingham, which was where John Elliott mainly lived. Who knows whether he ever resided at Winthorpe? More than one Gazetteer of the period refers to Col. Elliott's Winthorpe Hall (eg William Owen, New Book of Roads (1814)). But I am sure enough that he retained his house in Nottingham.

I recently obtained a copy of his will (PROB 11/1676/314) mainly because of my interest in the Castlegate house, and I found to my surprise that buried in one of the longest wills I have ever seen (he was undoubtedly a very wealthy man), there was a family revelation as well.

From John Elliott's Will. PROB 11 1676/314

In his second codicil dated 9 June 1823 (the day before he died, in fact), John Elliott refers to the fact that he has lately entered into a contract to sell "my estate at Newark and Winthorpe" to ... [blank] … Duncombe, Esq.

Then I found that George Beaumont himself had been acting as agent at Winthorpe in early 1822, his client surely being John Elliott himself! Although "Winthorpe Hall" and "Winthorpe House" are different properties in terms of their names today, I think it quite likely that the "mansion" John Elliott had bought (the Hall) is the house called "Winthorpe House" in an advertisement for letting or sale in 1822, stating that besides garden, stabling etc it could be offered with over 85 acres of meadow land sloping gradually to the river Trent. Enquiries to George Beaumont, land-agent, Winthorpe or Newark (Stamford Mercury 25 January 1822).

Having that much land, sloping to the Trent, is not a description that seems to me to match what is now called "Winthorpe House," but does match the Hall. I think it likely that this January 1822 advertisement led to Col. Elliott's agreement to sell to Mr Duncombe. (see note)

Perhaps the "House" and "Hall" names were interchangeable at this period. I do not know where George Beaumont and his wife (my grandfather's grandparents) actually lived at Winthorpe, but somewhere in Mr Elliott's property there may have been some secondary accommodation.

The extended Beaumont / Elliott family must have networked as regards finding somewhere for George to set himself up after his apparently bad experiences with Robert Harvey.  He landed on his feet with a wealthy family-connected client and somewhere to live for a while, all which helped to provide the base for building up his wider practice.

A family tree chart (not complete, only shows relevant people):

Beaumont
Rev George Beaumont -1773 (sometime curate at Gedling, later Rector St Nicholas,' Nottingham)
        Rev Thomas Beaumont -1835 of East Bridgford
        Richard Beaumont -1828 of Birmingham
                George Beaumont 1796- the Land Surveyor
        Frances Beaumont -1836 (wife of William Elliott Elliott of Gedling)
        Walter Beaumont -1841 [lived at East Bridgford some while]
        Abel Beaumont -1838 [lived at East Bridgford some while]

Elliott
William Stanford -1796 of Nottingham (he and his sons took name Elliott)
        William Elliott Elliott 1756-1844 (husband of Frances Beaumont), of Gedling House
        John Elliott 1757-1823, of Nottingham [Colonel Elliott]

After John Elliott's death it would seem to me likely that the sale was completed. Mr Duncombe is said to have sold both Langford and Winthorpe to Lord Middleton in 1833.

George Beaumont and family continued to live at Winthorpe perhaps until early 1841 when they moved to East Bridgford Hill following the death of his uncle Walter.

Box 1-180 in this Archive is a scrapbook of anecdotes and cuttings which may have been started by George's father Richard (d.1828) in Birmingham but which continues through the Winthorpe period and indeed to the 1870s. In the middle are items which relate to Newark if not actually to Winthorpe itself, including an illustration of the "Chauntry House." Also a water colour of a Trent scene (perhaps somewhere near East Bridgford).

The water colour is likely by George himself (there are others) but the style of it is similar to pictures by Rev John Swete, the husband of another of his aunts.

I don't think the scrapbook (over 400 pages) contains anything relevant to surveying or land-management work. But further work may reveal whether George continued to work on the Winthorpe estate eg for Mr Duncombe or for Lord Middleton. He certainly did work for W.E. Elliott on various of that family's property including an estate - at Plumtree - mentioned in John Elliott's will.

Intriguingly there was a building at Winthorpe or Newark called "Fort Elliot." I believe this is a coincidence and not connected with John Elliott. The excellent local website

https://www.winthorpe.org.uk/the-village-and-its-houses
has many details of houses in the village!

EMB 17 & 18 July 2020

(Note: I saw mentions of a certain J.T. Terrewest Esq at Winthorpe Hall, about 1821. I guess he was a tenant there, only for a year or two. The advertisement above and a sale of genteel furniture etc which was to take place at the Hall on 21 February 1822 (Stamford Mercury) were I suppose in context of Mr Terrewest moving out. To some extent I assume that "Winthorpe Hall" and "Winthorpe House" at this period, are the same.)