Box 18/304 in this Archive is an original document, appointing Rev Thomas Beaumont of East Bridgford to be Chaplain of the 84th Regiment of Foot, 2 November 1793.
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| Box 18/304 |
(I had scanned it in two parts, left and right. The image above shows the entire document. I was not skilful enough to join up the two sides perfectly so have left it with the centre of each line visible twice!)
The document appears to have been over-written in places, perhaps in pencil, so as to change “T.......Beaumont, Clerk” to “R.......Beaumont, Gent.” and in two of three places “Chaplain” has been changed to “Captain” in the same way..... but for what reason these were made will probably remain a mystery.
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| The alterations made to it, in more detail |
The key words are “to our trusty and well-beloved T...... Beaumont, Clerk, Greeting. We do by these presents Constitute and Appoint you to be Chaplain to our eighty fourth Regiment of Foot commanded by our trusty and well-beloved Lieutenant Colonel George Bernard"..........the signature appears to be “Henry Dundas” and there is an endorsement “Entered with the Commiss[ary] General of Musters, [by] Tho[mas] Butts.”
An Announcement from the War Office dated 1 March 1794Printed in the Kentish Gazette 7 March 179484th Regiment of FootLieutenant-Col. George Bernard, from the Half-pay of the late 86th Foot, to be Lieutenant-Col. Commandant.To be Majors: (two names)To be Captains: (four names)....other officers----To be Chaplain:T...... Beaumont, clerk
This particular incarnation of the 84th was "raised" in November 1793 at York the timing of which coincides quite closely with events such as
- R.H.Beaumont of Whitley being High Sheriff of York (1793-1794)- the Bernards living in York (Mrs Elizabeth Bernard being RHB's sister)- the death of RHB and Elizabeth's mother, who lived in York (1791)- Thomas Beaumont preaching the "Assize Sermon" in York Minster (24 March 1793), presumably at RHB's invitation.
The 1790s are the period when the two parts of the family namely (A) Whitley Hall and (B) Chapelthorpe and East Bridgford, were in touch with one another.
The Army List for 1794 seems to have been printed without noting this "new" 84th. In the volumes for 1795 and 1796 the 84th is listed headed by George Bernard but with the chaplain being Thomas Beamish. In the 1797 volume the chaplain is correctly shown, as from 2 Nov. 1793, as Thomas Beaumont.
No name is given as Chaplain of the 84th in the Army Lists for 1798 or 1799 but Thomas Beaumont re-appears in that role in the 1800 volume.
But I think he had become much more connected with the "Nottingham Volunteers." He consecrated their colours at a ceremony in the Market Square on 30 September 1799 which Nottingham's well-known diarist noted (Abigail Gawthern's diary in Thoroton RS (1980) p.80). The event is described in the Nottingham Date Book including mention of the chaplain (i.e. TB) being escorted with the ladies, from the house of Samuel Smith Esq on South Parade (Nottingham Date Book p.240).
(Samuel Smith was second cousin of Rev. T. Beaumont. All members of the family banked with Smiths at South Parade (later, and still, NatWest) right through to the late c20, and some still do.)
In 1803 Thomas was Chaplain to the Nottingham Loyal Volunteers, as shown by an entry in the London Gazette of 20 December that year.
By that sort of time I think relations with RHB were not quite so friendly and in fact Thomas was having to provide RHB with security or guarantees for his (Thomas') brothers. Also George Bernard may have been increasingly disapproved of - he had a mistress in Knaresborough!
EMB
4 December 2020
Note:
In a 2013 Birmingham University Thesis called “An Age of Negligence? British Army Chaplaincy 1796-1844,” Roy David Burley fell into the trap of listing the chaplain of the [1st Battalion of the] Eighty-Fourth Regiment from 2 November 1793 as Thomas Beamish. Coincidentally Beamish was the surname of the man George Bernard's [illegitimate] daughter Fanny would marry in 1823.
Note:
Box 18/304 is one of the items that were housed for a while at Nottinghamshire Archives and which I withdrew from there. But they still list it in their catalogue as DD/2184/3/4 as if they still had it.
