NOTE:- I corrected / amended this article in December 2024 - see especially the information from 1771 on and new information at the bottom.
Nearly all this information is contained or confirmed in documents in the archive or copy documents I have obtained from one place or another.
About 1683. William Beaumont of Darton buys Chapelthorpe.
1688. William settles Darton to his eldest son George, who he expects to outlive him. William continues to live at Darton. George lives at Chapelthorpe.
William's plan no doubt is that in due course George will move to Darton, and Chapelthorpe will be the residence of a younger son in the family.
However George never moves to Darton because he dies in 1712, before William.
1713. William Beaumont dies. The heir for Darton is the 16-year old George, son of George and grandson of William. William's younger son Thomas takes over Chapelthorpe.
The younger son of George (d.1712) is another Thomas, who becomes a clergyman and goes to live in Nottingham having obtained a living there. Meanwhile Jane, daughter of George (d.1712) is married to Abel Smith, a banker in that town.
1731. Thomas Beaumont of Chapelthorpe dies leaving a complicated will letting his nephew Thomas (the clergyman who lives in Nottingham) have Chapelthorpe for life.
1736. George Beaumont (the one who inherited Darton in 1713, who lives there, and whose young wife has also died) dies leaving two little boys, Thomas and George. Naturally the elder boy Thomas is destined to take over Darton when he comes of age. His uncle, the Nottingham clergyman, however in due course lets Thomas live at Chapelthorpe, which Thomas apparently prefers rather than Darton.
The younger George moves away from Yorkshire, spending more time at Nottingham and thereabouts. He becomes a clergyman, marries, and has numerous children.
1750. During the mid c18 the chapel was built (Chapelthorpe was in the Parish of Sandal Magna).
1768. An arrangement is made paving the way for the ending of the 1731 settlement after the death of the Revd Thomas Beaumont, which occurs in 1771. His nephew Thomas (Esq) (the one who has been living at Chapelthorpe) is the uncle's executor and is left various properties, whilst control of the main estate passes to his other nephew Revd George of Nottingham, clearly intended to be for the latter's eldest son, another Thomas (see eg the "special bond" Box 1-067 in this archive and the clergyman Thomas's will)..
Amongst various documents that have come down in the family is a handwritten "Rental of the Estate of the late Revd. Mr. Thos Beaumont of Nottingham Deceased situate and being at Chapple Thorpe and in the Parish of Sandale Magna in the county of York" (Box 1-54). It shows the "Capital Mansion House" with its buildings and 36 acres worth £50 per annum to be in the occupation of Thomas Beaumont Esq; and there follow the names of eight tenants, the principal one being Richard Beatson. This must be between about 1771 and 1775.
1773. Revd George (now Rector of St.Nicholas' church, Nottingham), now dies.
1776 A document (Box 1-69) shows that in 1775-1776 Thomas (eldest son of Revd George) took legal advice about his ownership of the estate and his ability to sell it. There were three categories (a) what had been in the 1731 settlement, (b) what had been purchased more recently, and (c) what Thomas's father had owned. Thomas evidently decided not to sell everything though it does appear that he took money out by mortgaging parts of the estate.
About this time Thomas Esq went to live at Darton. The main house at Chapelthorpe thereby became available for letting and indeed then or a little later it seems it was let to Richard Beatson. Thomas Beaumont the owner is based in Nottinghamshire where he eventually holds various church posts.
1785. Thomas Beaumont Esq formerly of Chapelthorpe (who now lives at Darton) now dies, leaving one son Thomas Richard Beaumont, who had been born at Chapelthorpe, and whose marriage in due course brings him Bretton Hall and other estates.
1785. Chapelthorpe Hall is advertised to let, with an optional farmhouse and up to 143 acres, having been occupied for several years by Richard Beatson (who has got into financial difficulties). The proposed letting is being handled by George Beaumont, merchant, of Leeds (brother of the Revd Thomas) and by a Mr Bolland, an attorney (Leeds Intelligencer 18 and 25 October 1785).
I have no solid information but I suspect that nobody took a lease of the whole place, the main house perhaps being retained in hand and occasionally visited by Revd Thomas Beaumont of Nottinghamshire who has at this period an increasing amount of contact with Yorkshire, particularly perhaps through becoming the chaplain to the 84 th Regiment. This brings him into contact with his more distant cousins R.H. Beaumont of Whitley Hall, and RHB's sister Elizabeth the wife of George Bernard the CO of that Regiment.
At least some of the Chapelthorpe estate must have been copyhold. I notice in the only just discovered database of the Wakefield Court Baron Docket books, entries which seem to correspond with Beaumont transactions - Wills, for example several entries dated 1775. And the leasing to Beatson in 1777.
Also in the 1790s, Revd Thomas builds a fine house at East Bridgford, where he would live until his death in 1835.
1811-1814. New information December 2024. The evidence as I saw it before suggested that Revd Thomas Beaumont of East Bridgford sold Chapelthorpe in 1811 to his cousin Thomas Richard Beaumont, and that the latter sold it in 1814. Revisiting this now, I see that the 1811 information is in fact no evidence of a sale.
Amended 12-13 December 2024:- The excellent historian of Wakefield stated that Thomas Richard Beaumont sold Chapelthorpe on 29 September 1814 to Joseph Charlesworth (see J.W. Walker, History of Wakefield (1934), p.524). But it seems to me that Mr Walker may have assumed TRB to be the owner because his father had lived there, and because TRB was well-known locally. I believe Walker's own family owned Chapelthorpe at some later date, so he may well have seen relevant documents. If the 1814 seller really was TRB then he must have bought the property from Revd Thomas in 1811 or later; but otherwise I suspect the 1814 seller may have been none other Revd Thomas. Something in the Charlesworth documents (C254 in West Yorkshire Archives) might provide an answer. And the Yorkshire Arch Soc provides a searchable database of the Wakefield Court Baron Docket books which may well assist. In fact, that database contains entries suggesting to me that Revd Thomas Beaumont may have sold parts of his Chapelthorpe estate in different stages, starting in the 1790s. Unfortunately that database does not go as late as 1811 or 1814.
1811. Amended 12-13 December 2024. We have documents (Box 18/321) dated November 1811 by which Revd Thomas Beaumont of East Bridgford surrendered all his copyhold property in Sandal (not in fact identified in any more detail) to the lord of the manor of Wakefield, for the uses and purposes expressed in his Will (but not saying what or to whom). These documents show that John Breare, the Steward of the Wakefield Manor Court, appointed a well-known Nottingham solicitor, Robert Leeson, as his Deputy, to take the surrender. I have no knowledge of copyhold law. But I suspect that this surrender merely enabled Revd Thomas Beaumont to make a Will and to know that in the event of his death the Chapelthorpe property would pass that way. So these documents are no evidence at all of any sale in 1811.
Amended 12-13 December 2024:- The excellent historian of Wakefield stated that Thomas Richard Beaumont sold Chapelthorpe on 29 September 1814 to Joseph Charlesworth (see J.W. Walker, History of Wakefield (1934), p.524). But it seems to me that Mr Walker may have assumed TRB to be the owner because his father had lived there, and because TRB was well-known locally. I believe Walker's own family owned Chapelthorpe at some later date, so he may well have seen relevant documents. If the 1814 seller really was TRB then he must have bought the property from Revd Thomas in 1811 or later; but otherwise I suspect the 1814 seller may have been none other Revd Thomas. Something in the Charlesworth documents (C254 in West Yorkshire Archives) might provide an answer. And the Yorkshire Arch Soc provides a searchable database of the Wakefield Court Baron Docket books which may well assist. In fact, that database contains entries suggesting to me that Revd Thomas Beaumont may have sold parts of his Chapelthorpe estate in different stages, starting in the 1790s. Unfortunately that database does not go as late as 1811 or 1814.
With this sale in 1814 the connection of what may be called the Nottingham Beaumonts with Yorkshire is for practical purposes ended.
New paragraph 12 December 2024: within the next couple of months I intend to transfer a number of documents relating to Chapelthorpe to West Yorkshire Archives in Wakefield.
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