Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans

His Grace The Duke of St Albans FCA
The Duke by Allan Warren
Member of the House of Lords
In office 8 October 1988 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans
Succeeded by	House of Lords Act 1999
Personal details
Born	19 January 1939
Spouse(s)	Rosemary Frances Scoones (m. 1963; div. 1974) Cynthia Theresa Mary née Howard (m. 1974; div. 2001) Gillian Anita née Northam (m. 2002)
Children	Lady Emma Caroline de Vere Beauclerk Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford
Parents	Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans Nathalie Chatham née Walker

Murray de Vere Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans, FCA (born 19 January 1939), styled Earl of Burford from 1964 until 1988, is a British peer of the Realm.

Family

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 by descent from Aubrey de Vere I, Chief Tenant of William the Conqueror.

Career

Beauclerk attended Tonbridge School in Kent, before qualifying as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1962.^[1]

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

Marriages and issue

Murray Beauclerk married Rosemary Frances Scoones on 31 January 1963;^[3] they had two children:

• Lady Emma Caroline de Vere Beauclerk (born 22 July 1963), married 1991 David Craig Shaw Smellie
• Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (born 22 February 1965)

They divorced in 1974, and Lady Burford married secondly in 1975,^[4] divorcing in 2000, Paul Pellew, 10th Viscount Exmouth and 9th marqués de Olías (born Estoril, 8 October 1940).^[5]

Lord Burford married secondly Cynthia Theresa Mary Howard on 29 August 1974; the Duke and Duchess of St Albans were divorced in 2001. Her Grace was born on 23 March 1929 and died 12 May 2002.^[6][7]

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

See also

• Hereditary Grand Falconer

Ancestry

Ancestors of Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans

16. William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans               8. Lord Charles Beauclerk                       17. Maria Janetta Nelthorpe               4. Aubrey Topham Beauclerk                             18. Lt. Col. Edward Stopford               9. Laura Stopford                       19. Horatia Charlotte Lockwood               2. Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans                                   20. Robert Hughes               10. Sir Frederick Hughes                       21. Anne Sparkes               5. Gwendoline Loftus Hughes                             22. Edward James               11. Theodocia James                       23. Annie Finlay               1. Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans                                         24. Micajah Hilditch Walker               12. Edmund William Walker                       25. Eliza Powis               6. Percival Field Walker                             26. Samuel Field               13. Mary Field                       27. Jane Cole               3. Nathalie Chatham Walker                                   28. William Chatham               14. Hugh Barber Chatham                       29. Margaret Barber               7. Helen Chatham                             30. Charles Murray Lugger Cousins               15. Josephine Marian Cousins                       31. Phillis Ann Sands

Arms

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

1. Debrett's People of Today
2. Who's Who (2003 edition), London p. 1899
3. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage
4. thepeerage.com
5. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage
6. The Times via WorldRoots
7. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage
8. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of St Albans
• The House of Nell Gwyn: Fortunes of the Beauclerk Family, Donald Adamson (William Kimber, Ldn 1974)