Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Duke of St Albans
The Duke by Allan Warren
Member of the House of Lords
In office
8 October 1988 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byCharles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born (1939-01-19) 19 January 1939 (age 85)
Spouses
Rosemary Scoones
(m. 1963; div. 1974)
Cynthia Howard
(m. 1974; div. 2001)
Gillian Northam
(m. 2002)
ChildrenLady Emma Beauclerk
Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford
Parent(s)Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans
Nathalie Chatham Walker

Murray de Vere Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans, FCA (born 19 January 1939), styled Earl of Burford from 1964 until 1988, is an English duke.

He was a member of the House of Lords from 1988 until 1999.

Family[edit]

The only child (by his first wife) and eldest son of Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans, the 14th Duke descends from King Charles II and Nell Gwyn by their illegitimate son, Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans. He is also the senior representative of the De Vere family.

Career[edit]

Beauclerk attended Tonbridge School in Kent, before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1962.[1]

Since 1989, he has served as Governor-General of the Royal Stuart Society,[2] a monarchist organization with Jacobite ties, and is also a Freeman of the City of London and Liveryman of the Drapers' Company.[1]

Marriages and issue[edit]

Murray Beauclerk married three times. On 31 January 1963 he married firstly Rosemary Frances Scoones, a daughter of Francis Harold Scoones of West Ham and his wife Rose Frances E. Callis. They were divorced in 1974, having had two children:

In 1975, Rosemary Beauclerk remarried to Paul Pellew, 10th Viscount Exmouth, 9th Marquess of Olías.[3][4]

On 29 August 1974, shortly after his first divorce, Beauclerk married secondly Cynthia Theresa Mary (1929–2002), daughter of Lt-Col. William James Holdsworth Howard, D.S.O., and former wife of the late Sir Anthony Robin Hooper, 2nd Baronet.[5] They were divorced in 2001, without issue.[6][7]

In 1988, Beauclerk's father died, and he became the 14th Duke of St. Albans.

The Duke married his third and current wife, Gillian Anita Northam, on 14 December 2002 in London.[8]

Arms[edit]

Coat of arms of Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans
Coronet
A Duke's coronet
Crest
On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Lion statant guardant Or crowned with a ducal coronet per pale Argent and of the First and gorged with a Collar of the Last thereon three Roses also Argent barbed and seeded Proper
Escutcheon
Grand quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters: the Royal Arms of Charles II, viz quarterly: 1st and 4th, France and England quarterly; 2nd, Scotland; 3rd, Ireland; the whole debruised by a Baton sinister Gules charged with three Roses Argent barbed and seeded Proper (Beauclerk); 2nd and 3rd grand quarters: quarterly Gules and Or in the first quarter a Mullet Argent (De Vere)
Supporters
Dexter: an Antelope Argent armed and unguled Or; Sinister: a Greyhound Argent, each gorged with a Collar as in the Crest
Motto
Auspicium Melioris Aevi (A pledge of better times)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Murray-de-Vere-Beauclerk-ST-ALBANS", Debrett's People of Today, online edition, Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Who's Who (2003 edition), London p. 1899
  3. ^ thepeerage.com
  4. ^ Burke's Peerage & Baronetage
  5. ^ Crooks, John & Green, Alison, editors, Debrett's People of Today 2001, Fourteenth Annual Edition, Debrett's Peerage Ltd., London, page 1720.
  6. ^ The Times via WorldRoots Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Burke's Peerage & Baronetage
  8. ^ Burke's Peerage & Baronetage

External links[edit]

Peerage of England
Preceded by Duke of St Albans
1988–present
Incumbent
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
The Duke of St Albans
Succeeded by