William Worby Beaumont (1848 – 14 April 1929) was an early automotive engineer and inventor.William Worby Beaumont - Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
/ref> He was born in

Chorlton Chorlton may refer to: Places * Chorlton, Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England *Chorlton, Cheshire West and Chester, in Cheshire, England *Chorlton-cum-Hardy, in Manchester, England **Chorlton (ward), an electoral ward of Manchester, England **Chorl ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

in 1848, the son of the

agricultural engineer Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical enginee ...

William Henry Beaumont (1827-1907) and his wife Ellen ''née'' Worby (1826-1906). On leaving school in 1864 he was an apprentice at the Reading Ironworks Co. before joining the

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

works of Ransomes and Sims in 1867 as an Improver under his grandfather, Mr. William Worby, the notable pioneer of agricultural self-movers.Biographical note on Mr W. W. Beaumont - ''Automobile Club Journal'', 26 February 1903 Here after five years he was promoted to Assistant to

Robert Mallet Robert Mallet (3 June 1810 – 5 November 1881) was an Irish geophysicist, civil engineer, and inventor who distinguished himself in research on earthquakes and is sometimes called the father of seismology. His son, Frederick Richard Mallet was ...

. He left Ransomes to take up an appointment with Vaughan Pendred as joint-editor of '' The Engineer'' newspaper where he remained for about ten years. During his tenure he revealed himself as a dedicated enthusiast for the motor car, which was hardly surprising considering the engineering background of his grandfather, William Worby.T.R. Nicholson
''The Birth of the British Motor Car 1769–1897: Volume 3 The Last Battle 1894–97''
The MacMillan Press Ltd (1982) - Google Books pg. 341 In 1895 he attended an exhibition organized by the British Motor Syndicate of a Daimler motor car at

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...

in London. From 1896 Beaumont was in private practice as a Consulting Automobile and Mechanical Engineer and later was Technical Adviser to the Metropolitan Police for 12 years from 1905 in addition to acting as Honorary Consulting Engineer to the

Royal Automobile Club The Royal Automobile Club is a British private social and athletic club. It has two clubhouses: one in London at 89 Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, near Epsom in Surrey. Both provide accommodation and a range ...

(RAC), of which he was a founding Member in 1897. The first Conditions of Fitness for Taxis specifically written for motor cabs were written under the guidance of Beaumont for the Metropolitan Police, he having been recommended to the Public Carriage Office by

Lord Montagu of Beaulieu Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (, Engl. pronunciation: "bewley", from French ''beau'', "beautiful" and ''lieu'', "place"), in the County of Hampshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for the Conservative pol ...

. Introduced in May 1906, the Conditions of Fitness set out the requirements for vehicles that were to be used as licensed

Hackney carriage A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common s ...

taxi cab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

s in London. Beaumont's listing in the ''Motoring Annual and Motorist's Year Book'' for 1904 described him as:

'BEAUMONT, W. Worby, M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E., &c., &c., Outer Temple, 222, Strand, London, W.C. Car: None at present. Hobbies: Cycling, orographic geology, and physical and mechanical experiment. Supports motoring for the improvement in the conduct of traffic of all kinds on roads; the development of a great national industry, and the recovery of the premiership of the United Kingdom, in the construction of mechanically-propelled vehicles. Is a practical engineer. Has carried out extensive experiments in steam condensation, and in connection with steam, oil and gas-engines. In 1898 was President of the Society of Engineers. Is the author of "Motor Vehicles and Motors." Is Hon. Consulting Engineer to the A.C.G.R. & I., and has been a judge of motor vehicles at all the important exhibitions and trials from 1896 to the present time'.

In 1898 Beaumont was President of the

Society of Engineers The Society of Engineers was a British learned society established in 1854. It was the first society to issue the professional title of Incorporated Engineer. It merged with the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) in 2005, and in 2006 the me ...

and was a member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

, the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

and the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of T ...

in addition to many other learned bodies. Beaumont was a member of the Cycle Engineers' Institute and an original Member of Council of the Institution of Automobile Engineers, taking an active role in the Institution for the rest of his life. In 1906 he became a Consulting engineer to

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. His ''Motor Vehicles and Motors: Their Design, Construction and Working by Steam, Oil and Electricity'' in two volumes was printed by Archibald Constable & Co. London, comprising Volume 1, 1900 and Volume 2, 1906. ''Industrial Electric Vehicles and Trucks'' was published by Griffin in 1920. From 1926 his Offices and those of Mr L. N. Burt were located at 20 Essex Street,

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

, London. Beaumont's first wife was Ellen Anna Maria Beaumont (1850-c1880) with whom he had three children: Chevalier Worby Beaumont (1875–1933); Eugene Guy Euston Beaumont (1877–1932), and Mary Alcyone Beaumont (1878–1920). His second wife was Mary Elizabeth Weldon (1851–1925) whom he married in 1885 in Lambeth. With her he had a daughter, Dorothy Weldon Worby Beaumont (1887–1972). He married his third wife Vida Mary Augusta Constance Moylan (1871-1962) in 1925,William W Beaumont in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (1925) the youngest sister of the prolific

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

Josephine Fitzgerald Clarke and the pioneer female dentist Hannah Moylan. In his later years he lived at 76 Gunterstone Road in

West Kensington West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, includ ...

in LondonEngland & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for William Worby Beaumont (1929) where a neighbour was the author H. Rider Haggard. William Worby Beaumont died at 46 St George's Road in Westminster in London in April 1929 aged 80 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaumont, William Worby 1848 births 1929 deaths People from Chorlton-cum-Hardy 19th-century British engineers 20th-century British engineers English civil engineers British automotive engineers