Dudley John Beaumont (1877 – 24 November 1918) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and painter. He was the first husband of

Sibyl Hathaway Dame Sibyl Mary Hathaway ( Collings, formerly Beaumont; 13 January 1884 – 14 July 1974) was Dame of Sark from 1927 until her death in 1974. Her 47-year rule over Sark, in the Channel Islands, spanned the reigns of four monarchs: George V, Ed ...

, 21st

Seigneur of Sark The Seigneur of Sark is the head of Sark in the Channel Islands. "Seigneur" is the French word for "lord", and a female head of Sark is called Dame of Sark, of which there have been three. The husband of a female ruler of Sark is not a consort b ...

, and grandfather of her successor, Michael Beaumont.

Life

Beaumont was the son of

William Spencer Beaumont Captain William Spencer Beaumont (29 May 1848''England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975'' – 2 August 1926) was a British army officer and a member of the London County Council. Beaumont was the grandson of John Thomas Barber Beaumont, ...

and the great grandson of

John Thomas Barber Beaumont John Thomas Barber Beaumont (1774–1841) was a British army officer, painter, author, and philanthropist. He was successful in the insurance business, and projected a settlement in South America. Life Born John Thomas Barber on 21 December 17 ...

, both

officers. While painting a portrait of her, Beaumont became infatuated with

Sibyl Collings Dame Sibyl Mary Hathaway ( Collings, formerly Beaumont; 13 January 1884 – 14 July 1974) was Dame of Sark from 1927 until her death in 1974. Her 47-year rule over Sark, in the Channel Islands, spanned the reigns of four monarchs: George V, Ed ...

, the daughter of Seigneur

William Frederick Collings William Frederick Collings (1852 – 20 June 1927) was Seigneurs of Sark, seigneur of Sark from 1882 until his death. One of the most eccentric lords of the island, he was known for his anti-clericalism, stubbornness, intemperance and generosity. ...

of Sark. Despite her father's severe opposition, the couple eloped and married. Beaumont and Collings together had seven children: Bridget Amice Beaumont (1902–1948);

Francis William Lionel Beaumont Francis William Lionel Collings Beaumont (6 August 1903 – 4 May 1941), also known as F. W. L. C. Beaumont or “Buster" Beaumont, was the heir to the Seigneur of Sark, a Royal Air Force officer, film producer and the husband of actress Mary La ...

(1903–1941), father of John Michael Beaumont; Cyril John Astley Beaumont (1905–1973); Basil Ian Beaumont (1908–1909); Douce Alianore Daphne Beaumont (1910–1967); Richard Vyvyan Dudley Beaumont (b. 1915); Jehanne Rosemary Ernestine Beaumont (1919–88). Collings writes extensively about her relationship with Beaumont in her 1961 autobiography. Beaumont first joined the British Army as a part-time

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the 2nd

Volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

Battalion,

Gloucestershire Regiment The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the ...

on 5 August 1905, but he resigned that commission on 24 March 1908. When the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

began in 1914, Beaumont joined the 2/5 Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, By 25 August 1915 he was a temporary

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

and was transferred to the

General List The General Service Corps (GSC) is a corps of the British Army. Role The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List. These lists were used in both World Wars for specialists and those not allo ...

for service with the

West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition ...

(WAFF). On 1 May 1916 he was transferred back to the Glosters still in the rank of temporary lieutenant but was granted seniority in that rank from 27 September 1914. He was then further transferred to a labour battalion, the 36th Battalion,

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

on 17 June 1916. He relinquished his commission on 19 July 1917 due to ill-health. There is some contradiction of the official sources in family accounts: in an announcement of his son's marriage in 1924, his rank is given as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

;The official sources are the ''Gazettes'' and medal card previously referred to and also an official death notice in and his wife wrote in relation to his death that in 1918 Beaumont was deployed in France when the

Spanish flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

broke out and then had the misfortune of being sent to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on leave at the height of the pandemic in that city. Beaumont died of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

on 24 November 1918 at the age of 41. He is buried in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

Brookwood, Surrey Brookwood is a village in Surrey, England, about west of Woking, with a mixture of semi-rural, woodland-set and archetypal suburban residential homes. It lies on the western border of the Woking Borough, with a small part of the village in Gu ...

.Beaumont is buried in plot 182389.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaumont, Dudley John People from Sark 1877 births 1918 deaths Gloucestershire Regiment officers Royal Fusiliers officers Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in England British Army personnel of World War I Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Royal West African Frontier Force officers