(1743 - 1822), statesman, e. s. of E. of Hertford, cr. M. of Hertford 1793, of Ragley Hall, War; sty. Vct. Beauchamp 1750 - 93; E. of Yarmouth 1793 - 4 when suc. fa. as 2nd M.; educ. Eton and Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1760; MP 1761 - 76 [I], 1766 - 94; m. 1 1768 Hon. Alice Windsor (d. 1772), dau. of 2nd Vct. Windsor [I], 2 1776 Hon. Isabella Ingram Shepheard, dau. of 9th Vct. Irwin [S]; amb. Berlin and Vienna 1793 - 4; FSA 1794; KG 1807.
1764 - 5 [Fontainebleau, Oct. 1764] Turin (Dec.), Genoa (Dec. 1764), Florence (Jan. - Apr. 1765), Milan (Jun. - ), Florence (2 Aug. - 14 Sep.) [Paris, 26 Sep.]
Lord Beauchamp travelled under the supervision of Walter Bowman, and set out in mid-October 1764 from Fontainebleau for Turin. He was there in December, about to leave for Genoa in mid-December.1 He had reached Florence by the end of January, Horace Mann describing him on 1 February as 'the most accomplished young nobleman who has passed here for many years',2 while Beauchamp found Mann of 'great merit'.3 In March 1765 Beauchamp said he had been abroad two years, and in Florence for two months; he intended to go from Florence 'to Rome, Naples, and from thence into Sicily after the summer heats are over; I shall return to Florence to assist at the Celebrity of the Archdukes [Leopold, who succeeded as Grand Duke of Tuscany] arrival here in the month of October, and then visit Milan, Bologna, and Venise ye only three towns of note that will then remain to be seen. I shall take leave of Italy about Christmas next'.3 He was said to be still in Florence on 23 April.4 From at least mid-June he was at Milan, and on 2 August he arrived in Florence, where he heard that his father was going to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant and had appointed him his secretary.5 He remained in Florence for about six weeks, awaiting instructions, in which time he met James Boswell;6 on 7 September he was trying to hire horses, but all that were fit 'to draw a chaise are employed for the Court' and he was trying instead to get mules to go by voiture to Bologna and Modena.5 Beauchamp left Florence on 14 September for England, to reach Paris twelve days later. After his departure he was elected an honorary member of the Florentine Academy on 28 September7 and, according to Horace Walpole, he later owned and figured in a large caricature group painted by Patch in Florence (now WSL), in which the 5th Earl of Berkeley and Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (who did not reach Italy until 1768) also appear.8
1. Wal.Corr., 38:448, 482. 2. Ibid., 38:514n1. 3. Ragley MSS, cr114a/796a (8 Mar. 1765). 4. Wilkes Corr., 2:159. 5. Wal. Corr., 22:319, 336. 6. Boswell, Italy, 122. 7. Wynne 1990, 537. 8. Patch 1940, 49.