The Beaumonts' House at Darton

The internet and libraries are awash with references to "Beaumont of the Oaks." That is muddle. This article - which replaces two earlier ones - suggests how it may have arisen.

Two old houses in Darton that were still standing into the twentieth century were Darton Hall, and the house at Oaks.

Evidence suggests
- that the Beaumonts had a house in Darton from 1617 and lived in it for over 100 years, and
- that that house was the one that became called Darton Hall, but

- that Oaks was not the home of the Beaumonts before the 1770s, and if it was their home then, it was only so for a few years.

Firstly, Darton Hall:-

George Beaumont purchased "Hill House" at Darton in 1617. [see note added at bottom]

He and his descendants lived in that house until the death of his great grandson George Beaumont in early 1736. The name Hill house is given in 1617 and in a few other documents but most documents referring to the family usually simply say "of Darton," and do not give the name of the house. Sometimes the house is referred to as for example "the house wherein Mr Beaumont dwells." The names of parcels associated with the house are sometimes repeated, demonstrating it through to 1736 to be the same property as in 1617.

The eldest son of George Beaumont (d.1736) was Thomas Beaumont Esq, who in 1751 married Anna. They lived for about twenty years at Chapelthorpe, in a house belonging to his clergyman uncle, of Nottingham.

During the 1770s they moved to Darton, but I do not know which house they lived in.

Here is Darton Hall, shown from a post card:

I have not seen the name Darton Hall much before the nineteenth century.

A survey of the lands of Colonel T R Beaumont c.1806-1808 mentions a tenant with about 70 acres. The house in this tenancy is not given a name in this survey but the survey map shows it to be Darton Hall. When he married, which was in 1786, the report in the local paper had called him Thomas Richard Beaumont, of Darton-House, Esq (Leeds Intelligencer).

An article in 1850 refers to Darton-Hall as “formerly the residence of a branch of the Beaumont family.....” The article adds “The structure, which is an ancient pile of architecture, still remains, and is occupied as a farm house” (Huddersfield Chronicle 3 Aug. 1850).

Here is the site of Darton Hall:

Here is a map of a larger area before all the modern developments:-

There is also a description of Darton Hall from about 1868. The text, from William Stott Banks, Walks About Wakefield, 1871 pp. 412-414, leads on from a description of the obelisk that was then standing.

"At the bottom of the field where it [the obelisk] now stands is a low Elizabethan house with outbuildings and good walled garden and summer house, called Darton hall, now used as a farmstead. Over the front door has been a date, but it would impossible without local knowledge to say what it was. The letters A.D. and the figures 15- are barely legible. The last two figures of the year are gone. The present [footnote indicates the year 1868] tenant, who was born in the house and has known it thirty years, is certain about the 15-. This was the home of that branch of the Beaumont family of which Wentworth Blackett Beaumont Esq of Bretton hall is the present head.”

(Added 15 April 2019: for the later story of Darton Hall please see a piece I am writing today).

Secondly, Oaks:-
My late uncle thought Oaks was the old Beaumont home and took the trouble to go there with his camera in about 1953. His photograph shows the initials and date IHA 1679 over the door.

The H refers to Hutchinson. Jane wife of "Richard Hutchinson of Oakes" died in 1744 and was buried in Darton church. Both the Parish Register and a stone slab record where she lived. Richard Hutchinson was one of several people who owed money to George Beaumont (d.1736).

Shortly after this, in 1745, Thomas Beaumont purchased Oaks from the Hutchinson family (Yorks Arch Soc DD70/97). I have only seen this from the catalogue, which refers to there being earlier deeds and an abstract of title - these would confirm the earlier ownership.

Thomas Beaumont did not go to live at Oaks then. In fact he didn't live in Darton at all to start with. He went to live at Chapelthorpe in his uncle's house until the 1770s, when he and his wife did return to Darton. I simply don't know which of their Darton properties they lived in then.

There is conflicting information - (a) an indication that he and his son sold "Oakes" in 1780 (Bretton archives BEA/C3/B14/3 - this was perhaps actually a mortgage); however (b) the survey of c.1806-1808 mentioned above confirms that his son still owned Oaks then, and that it was then occupied by a tenant with about 58 acres.

My late father took this photograph in 1960 of the bungalow that had by then replaced the old house at Oaks. At that stage he still thought that Oaks had been the old family home, so he did not photograph Darton Hall, though I think it was still standing then.

Since 1960 much of the field in the foreground has been covered with houses.

Did any Beaumonts ever live at Oaks?

Firstly I think the evidence points to none of the Beaumonts living permanently at Darton much after 1736, except for the period circa 1775-1785. So that decade seems to be the only period when any Beaumonts may have lived at Oaks.

Mr Banks was unhappy about the whole Oaks thing! His text continues:

"They were called Beaumonts of the Oaks in Darton. The house now called the Oaks, a farm house a quarter of a mile eastward of the hall, occupies a more commanding position, being in this respect much to be preferred. According to the inscription over the door, the present Oaks farm house was not built by a Beaumont.  [Banks then notes the inscription, exactly as my uncle's photograph, and concludes that the house was built by John Hutchinson (in 1679)]

[Banks' main text continues]:- "Supposing the hall figures to be rightly given, that dwelling is, as it looks, a century older than this; so that the Beaumonts if ever resident at this particular spot [meaning Oaks] must have had a house here which is not now in existence. Or was the whole of this end of Darton, including the ground where the hall stands called the Oaks? 

The last bit has gone off into speculative muddle. Banks presumably didn't know that George Beaumont bought Hill House in 1617.

Conclusions

Thomas Beaumont Esq and his wife Anna moved from Chapelthorpe to Darton in the 1770s. Thomas was still at Chapelthorpe in 1771 when his clergyman uncle who was the life tenant of the estate there died. Thomas was his uncle's executor and was left certain property by him but the life interest of Chapelthorpe now passed to Thomas' younger brother George, another clergyman. I have the impression that relations between the brothers were only luke-warm. George died in 1773 and by 1776 Chapelthorpe Hall Farm was being let. Therefore it would seem that Thomas and Anna moved to Darton between 1771 and 1776.

Anna died in 1778 (reputedly the obelisk marked the spot where she was killed by a bull) and he in 1785.

Thomas was a principal landowner in Darton and presumably lived either at Oaks or Darton Hall. Whilst this is guesswork I rather doubt if there was any other suitable house in Darton.

As Banks says, the position of Oaks was better (amazing view), and the house a hundred years younger. Thomas had spent much of his childhood at Hill House / Darton Hall, but who knows, perhaps he didn't like it, or his wife didn't. If Oaks was where they went to live, perhaps the whole muddle flows from someone who knew that, and assumed Oaks to be his family's house before, which it wasn't.

Banks begged the question who called them Beaumonts of the Oaks. Who was responsible for this? I suspect the historian Joseph Hunter (1783-1861). I'd be interested to know if the phrase "of the Oaks" appears in this context anywhere earlier than his "South Yorkshire." I think this was published between 1829-1831 but must have been based on information Hunter had collected earlier. In context of Darton church, he says: 

Of the Beaumonts, of the Oaks, in Darton, now of Bretton-Hall there are 

several monumental memorials.....
(South Yorkshire, ii. p.372)

Hunter certainly knew about Thomas Beaumont and Anna, and apparently visited Darton, where he noted the memorials in the church and the latin text on the obelisk, of which he was very critical:-

For the honour of the nation, it is to be wished that when country gentlemen erect public

monuments, they would call in the aid of a scholar to supply the inscriptions.” 

(South Yorkshire, ii. p.373)

Cataloguing errors

Lastly, I fear that some archive summaries read "of the Oaks" where the original document merely states "of Darton." I hope that correct summaries will be made at West Yorkshire Archives, where many of the papers have recently been sent.

Sources: As always, documents in this archive and from the DD70 papers that were at the Yorks. Arch. Soc. The story about Anna Beaumont being killed by a bull was told to my father by a cousin. The parish register however records that she died of "Cholick."

(May 2017)
.............................
Added 6 September 2019 a couple more references to Oaks during the seventeenth centurey, when the Beaumonts lived at Darton:-

(1) 1637. The Will of Richard Hutchenson [of] “Okes, par. Darton” was dated 29 August 1637 and was proved in January 1637/8 (YAS Record Series vol.4 p.22)… Richard Huchenson was actually buried at Darton in Sept. 1637 (Parish Register).

(2) 16 November 1648. Grant by Peter Bradbery and Ann, his wife, to Thomas Haighe of Maplewell and Richard Tottington of the Oakes in Darton, of a messuage in Blomehouse Green and closes belonging called Broad Royds. (Was DD70/31; will be WYW1849/7/31/5) [A Richard Tottington had married a Mary Hutchinson at Darton in 1642 (Parish Register)].
............................

Added this 5 & 6 November 2024. George Beaumont purchased Hill House in 1617 from Anthony Worrall, who had purchased it in 1608 or 1609. I have not seen the deeds for these transactions, but they will now be in WYW1849 from DD70 Bundle 36. It is possible (but far from proven) that it was the house in which a certain Robert Marsh of Darton (who died in 1604) and his family had lived, but perhaps did not own. This Robert Marsh has often been referred to as being "of Darton Hall" (and/or of the Deyhouse or Dayhouse - that being the name of a place in Darton, towards Barnsley). The Beaumonts retained a number of documents to which Robert Marsh had been party, documents which I have not seen except in the catalogue entries.

E.T. Beaumont and his book "The Beaumonts in History"

The full title is "The Beaumonts in History AD 850-1850."
The author was Edward Thomas Beaumont.

His father owned a Draper's business in Oxford.

ETB was the author also of a book on ancient memorial brasses. He published the Beaumont book privately in about 1929, and died a couple of years later, aged about 80. Here he is from his photograph in the book:-

I still have the copy of the book that my grandfather presumably subscribed for at first publication. It is in excellent condition and still has its advertisement "flyer."

The text of this book is easily readable on the internet and it is unfortunate that in so many places, it seems to be referred to as if it were an authoritative work. It isn't.

It is a remarkable work in many ways but contains numerous errors. It is also quite saturated with snobbery: everyone a high achiever; every wife an heiress; no black sheep allowed!

Use with caution and always check sources.

(A note on ETB himself:- Though I can't be sure without trawling through the book, I don't think he says anything in it about his own background. It seems to me that his father was another Edward Beaumont 1818-1861, the owner of a draper's business at Oxford, and the maiden name of his mother Elizabeth was Thomas. His grandfather was Thomas Beaumont c.1781-1848, who came from Herefordshire but ended his days in Cheltenham. ETB married Emily Maria Crow and they had four children of whom the youngest, George E Beaumont, was an eminent doctor).

(May 2017)

Nottingham War Memorial

I found this photo in the album of my father's photographs covering 1926-1930

It was taken from the West Bridgford side of the Trent, or from a boat. The War Memorial is said to have been opened or unveiled on 11 November 1927.

Between then and now the arrangement at the front has been altered, as this photo taken on 3 March 2016 shows:

Two early seals

The two seals shown here were used by George Beaumont of Chapelthorpe in 1688 and 1689.
The first one is on his lease, to his father, of the main family property at Darton, dated 20 December 1688. George was getting married, and the property had been settled on him, but his parents were not going to move out, so it was leased back to his father.

The second is on a document dated 6 June 1689, the counterpart of George's father's lease to him of the property at Chapelthorpe that was to be where George and his family would live.

(This Archive, Box 17/001 and 17/002)

For the property at Darton,  George was going to receive £100 per year rent from his father, and for that at Chapelthorpe, George agreed to pay £27-10s-6d per year.

The two impressions come from different seals.

John Walter, Rector of Bingham, d.1810

John Walter has been given a bad press in local history articles and websites.

The most serious piece of work about him that I know of is the article by Adrian Henstock in the Thoroton Society Transactions vol. LXXXV (85) for 1981 entitled: "A Parish Divided: Bingham and the Rev. John Walter 1764-1810"

Other, more recent writers, by and large anonymous, appear rather to have enjoyed slightly exaggerating the problems that undoubtedly occurred between Mr Walter and at least some of his parishioners.

He came to Bingham in 1764 after the death of the previous Rector who had been ill for many years and whose parish duties had been fulfilled, I think, by his son-in-law and curate Richard Kirkby. Mr Kirkby was also the Rector of Gedling, and I suspect that he and his wife had hoped to succeed her father and remain at Bingham, which was a wealthier living than Gedling.

Mr Kirkby had a curate at Gedling, George Beaumont, who lived there with his wife, children and unmarried sister. The Kirkbys for whatever reason did not get the living of Bingham, so they now moved to Gedling. George Beaumont, it would appear, was sent to do duty at Bingham. This I hasten to say is not proved, but is the story that seems to me to emerge from the facts I know at present. It is an aspect that Adrian Henstock does not dwell on, or at least does not explain, but nothing that he does say is inconsistent with this.

George's wife had a child in 1765, and this child was christened at Bingham, one of the indications that they were living there. And so I think it was that John Walter became a friend of the Beaumonts. George's unmarried sister Susannah married him in 1767.

John Walter was from the West Midlands where, according to Adrian Henstock, his father had been "a well-off Birmingham sadler's ironmonger." John had been to Magdalen College, Oxford. I believe he was brother of Richard Walter who died aged 50 in 1788 to whom there was a monument in Handsworth church (near Birmingham).

I suspect that Walter contacts in the West Midlands and indeed in business were useful to some of Susannah's many nephews and nieces. When Richard Walter's widow Anna Maria died at Handsworth some years later, Richard Beaumont (1761-1828, then a resident of Birmingham) was in attendance and indeed Anna Maria had been a Burnaby - a member of a wealthy largely clerical family related quite closely to the Beaumonts.

Read Adrian Henstock's article and decide for yourself about John Walter's character and the characters of some of his parishioners.

Later I am sure John Walter was a frequent visitor at George's son Rev Thomas Beaumont's new house at East Bridgford, as well as at the house at Gedling that W.E. Elliott (a Beaumont in-law) had bought from Thomas Smith.

There's no doubt that these people ate well. A scrap of verse (Box 18/314) speaks of having "Nunky" over to dine, and I think that means John Walter:-

Dear Nunky, Richard gives us hope

That you and he and Mr Cope

Tomorrow, if the day be fine, 

Will come to Bridgford Hill and dine. 

They promise too to catch some fish, 

By way of making a top dish; 

But say they do not care a button, 

So they can have a Joint of Mutton. 

A saddle now is in the larder. 

And of cold lamb a nice fore quarter. 

But we have neither Beef nor Veal, 

So hope on these you'll make a meal. 

What shall I say? This Muse turns pale, 

Whenever she thinks of Bingham Ale, 

Oh, no comparisons we'll make!

But what we have we hope you'll take, 

And make allowance for the Muse, 

Who promises when next she brews, /

She will produce some glorious liquor. 

Fit e'en for Rector or for Vicar. 

In short, for want of better cheer, 

Deficiencies of Beef or Beer, 

You'll have a hearty welcome here. T.B

Richard may mean Richard Beaumont of Birmingham, who I suspect was John Walter's godson. When John Walter died, in 1810, generous legacies came to our family and Rev Thomas Beaumont was one of the executors. Perhaps he found that verse invitation in the late Rector's desk.

Can anyone identify Mr Cope for me?

A few other random things have been handed down. One is a small brass token (Box 1/233):

Was this for authenticating access to a deed box at a bank or lawyer's office?

Another thing from his desk, perhaps, is a letter to him in 1797 concerning the death of his sister-in-law Anna Maria Walter in Handsworth, near Birmingham (Box 18/309). There is a great deal of information in this document and I hope to make it available.

And there is this receipt for the legacy duty, issued in 1813 to Thomas Beaumont by George Smith the local Distributor of Stamps as "Collector of the Legacy Duty." He was the son of the builder of Gedling House, and Rev Thomas Beaumont's (not too distant) cousin. This is Box 18/322; the name was wrongly catalogued as "Richard John Walter" when the document was in Nottinghamshire Archives (it was DD 2184/3/22 there).

I do wonder whether George Smith wrote out all such receipts in his own hand, as appears to be the case here.

The Baltic Merchants (3)

Some papers concerning George were, preserved at Darton and thus eventually found their way into the Bretton Estate archives or to the Yorkshire Arch. Soc., or both. These, I believe, were transferred to West Yorkshire Archives fairly recently.

This is a list of some relevant items from the Bretton estate archives catalogue that was supplied to me in 2000. Most of these documents are said in the list to be in German. I have standardised some spellings.


BEA/C3/B48
64  1663 Sale by Paul Alberte of 1/8 share in ship called "Frederick William of Koenigsburg" to George Beaumont the ship is now called "Charyly of Dantzick"
78 6 Oct 1676 Discharge by Mayor and Corporation of York for Receipt of £50 under the will of George Beaumont for relief of the city's poor
117 1670 Names of 120 poor persons in Hull and 27 in country near who received a share of £50 bequeathed by George Beaumont merchant of York

123 17 May 1658 Contract between Nathaniel Spencer and George Beaumont for trading between Stockton-on-Tees and Gdansk
124 May 1659 Contract (German) made in Koenighof in Koenigsburg
125 29 April 1665 Appeal (German) by George Beaumont to Frederic William Mergrave of Brandenburg regarding his contract with Christopher Melchior
126 10 July 1665 Libel (German) presented by George Beaumont
127 9 Sept 1666 Disputed contract between George Beaumont and Christopher Melchior
128 29 Jan 1667 Degree (German) from Chancellor of Brandenburg [??read Decree]
129 1667 Letter (German) from George Beaumont re Christopher Melchior
130 1660 Bond for 1100 marks paid in Koenigsburg
131 1650 Report (German) from George Beaumont re his trade
132 30 March 1663 Appointment of Attorney - by George Beaumont of Edward Bileton of London to act as his attorney in Koenigsburg to receive all monies due to him from Joseph Winds of Koenigsburg and remit to Bileton
133 2 April 1663 Instrument of Attorney sealed by Sir John Robinson Lord Mayor of London
134 1663 Agreement (German) between George Shuttleworth George Beaumont and Dirich Cornreissen
135 5 April 1664 Agreement [between] Joseph Wynde Thomas Benson Daniel Collins Richard Reynolds Samuel Brown Samuel Feak George Beaumont Thomas Dean [and] Joshua Earnshaw of the English Factory [relating to] trading practices for English merchants arising from Polish trouble
136 1656 marriage settlement - Sarah Beaumont, Josias son of Ralph Wordsworth
137 October 1669 George Beaumont Funeral Accounts Oct. 1669
138 13 March 1661 Trading Accounts (in German)
139 no 139
140 3 August 1666 Agreement between George Beaumont and Christopher Maichier [read Melchior?]
141 1668 Case. William Sancroft Dean of York & the Chapter against George Beaumont & Thomas Hague impropriators of Darton rectory for non-payment of tithes due of 8/4d for 18 years.

Abel Smith's 1728 Letter about Hannah

Nottingham, June 29 [1728]

To Mr Beaumont at Chapelthorpe
To be left at ye White Hart in Wakefield

One Mr Burnaby a young Clergyman of Asfordby in Leicestershire is very desirous to make his Address to Sister Hannah Beaumont (1). She is not willing to give him any further encouragement without advice of her Friends and in particular your Selfe (2) to whom she has the greatest obligation. He has a general good character for a sober Honest Gentleman - as to his Estate I have enclosed a particular on the inside...

.....continues / separate note about the Burnaby family's lands and finances and the proposed settlement......

..... I am now speaking of ye Worst that may happen for ye Gentleman is but about 26 years old and seemes of a Healthy Constitution in that such a Settlement may Never Be made use of but it [is] good to be Provided against [the] Worst.

....more about the settlement and joynture........

..... it will be as sure for her Life as freehold. Sister desireth that you will please Advise her on this affair.
I am you most obliged Kinsman & Humble Servant
Abill Smith (3)

My spouse (4) joins with me her humble service to yourself and all our friends at Chapelthorpe.
.............
(original - not seen - Bretton Archives BEA/C3/B48/60)
(this note made from partial transcript by T.Beaumont - this archive Box 12/003)
.............
(1) the youngest of Jane Smith's sisters, who presumably lived with the Smiths. She was described as spinster, of St.Peter's Parish [Nottingham,] when she married Andrew Burnaby. The marriage took place at Colwick in November 1728.
(2) Hannah's uncle, Thomas Beaumont 1765-1731, who then lived at Chapelthorpe.
(3) Abel Smith, banker, of Nottingham (d.1757)
(4) Jane, eldest daughter of George Beaumont of Chapelthorpe (d.1712)