Osborne de Vere Beauclerk, 12th Duke of St Albans (16 October 1874 – 2 March 1964) was a British peer and

Army officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an Military, armed force or Uniformed services, uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warra ...

. He was styled ''Lord Osborne Beauclerk'' from 1874 to 1934.

Early life

Lord Osborne Beauclerk was the son of

William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC Deputy Lieutenant, DL (15 April 1840 – 10 May 1898), Courtesy title, styled Earl of Burford until 1849, was a British people, Br ...

, and, his second wife, Grace Bernal-Osborne of

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, daughter of

Ralph Bernal Osborne Ralph Bernal Osborne of Newtown Anner House ( Ralph Bernal; 26 March 1808 – 4 January 1882), was a British Liberal politician. Early life He was born on 26 March 1808. He was the eldest son of London Sephardic Spanish and Portuguese Jewish ...

, descendant of the politician and actor Ralph Bernal. From his father's first marriage, he had an elder half-brother, Charles Beauclerk, 11th Duke of St Albans, who suffered from severe depression all his life. His father was the only son of

William Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St Albans William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St Albans (24 March 1801 – 27 May 1849) was an English aristocrat and cricketer. Early life William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk was born on 24 March 1801. He was the son of William Beauclerk, 8th Duk ...

, and Elizabeth Catherine, daughter of Major General Joseph Gubbins.

Career

Lord Osborne (known as ''Obby'') was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the

17th Lancers The 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1759 and notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. The regim ...

on 7 December 1895 and promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 4 July 1896. He served with his regiment in South Africa during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, during which he was promoted to

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

on 1 July 1901, and returned to the United Kingdom in December 1901. Following his return, he resigned from the army in September 1902, and was appointed captain of the

South Nottinghamshire Hussars The South Nottinghamshire Hussars is a unit of the British Army formed as volunteer cavalry in 1794. Converted to artillery in 1922, it presently forms part of 103 (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment, Royal Artillery. History Formatio ...

, a

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. History Origins In the 1790s, following the ...

regiment, on 20 December 1902. In 1911 and 1913 he set off on a trip to

British Columbia, Canada British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beach ...

where he was involved in a prospective mining investment at

Cassiar, British Columbia Cassiar is a ghost town in British Columbia, Canada. It was a small company-owned asbestos mining town located in the Cassiar Mountains of Northern British Columbia north of Dease Lake. History The discovery of asbestos in the area in 1950 l ...

; part of his time there was spent camping with partners British travelogue writer Warburton Pike and the American mining engineer

Marshall Latham Bond Marshall Latham Bond was one of two brothers who were Jack London's landlords and among his employers during the autumn of 1897 and the spring of 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. They were the owners of the dog that London fictionalized as Bu ...

. At the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Captain Beauclerk was appointed aide-de-camp to

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Sir Douglas Haig, serving in France. Upon the death of his elder half-brother on 19 September 1934, he succeeded to the family titles and estates.

Personal life

On 19 August 1918, he married Beatrix Beresford, Dowager Marchioness of Waterford, GBE,

DStJ The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...

, and daughter of the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne. He succeeded his

half-brother A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the other person. A male sibling is a brother, and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised ...

in the family titles in 1934. In his late eighties, St Albans spent a month travelling throughout America on a

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets. Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...

unlimited travel pass.''Auden's Ghost's: Osborne Beauclerk''

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

He died in 1964, aged 89 without children, when the

titles A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

devolved upon his second cousin, Charles St Albans who succeeded as the 13th

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

.''The House of Nell Gwyn: Fortunes of the Beauclerk Family''

Donald Adamson Donald Adamson, (30 March 1939 – 18 January 2024), was a British literary scholar and historian. Books which he wrote include ''Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God'' and '' Balzac and the Tradition of the European ...

(William Kimber, Ldn 1974)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Albans, Osborne Beauclerk, 12th Duke of 1874 births 1964 deaths English people of Scottish descent English people of Portuguese-Jewish descent English people of Spanish-Jewish descent 112 O

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links