(1740 - 1802), o. surv. s. of 1st B. Vere; Queen's Oxf. 1758; MP 1761 - 74; m. 1763 Ldy. Catherine Ponsonby, dau. of 2nd E. of Bessborough; suc. fa. 1781 as 2nd B.; suc. cos. 1787 as 5th D. of St Albans.
1778 - 81 Rome (May 1778 - early 1781) [Germany by Feb. 1781]
On 4 June 1778 Lady Mary Coke was told that 'Mr Beauclerke, Lady Catherine and Mr Brand [Thomas Brand, d. 1794] were gone together abroad, being so in debt they found it troublesome staying at home'.1 Lady Catherine had committed a 'little indiscretion' to which her father asked Beauclerk to attend,2 doubtless her relationship with Brand (who had left a wife and children behind in England). They took with them their eldest daughters, Catherine (d. 1803) and Caroline (d. 1838).
They were in Rome by May 1778, where their eldest son Aubrey (1765 - 1815, later 6th Duke of St Albans) joined them,3 and Thomas Bowdler noticed them there in November.4 They were to spend nearly three years in Rome, during which they were active as collectors. In September 1779 they sent home 'diversi marmori consistenti nella maggior parte in restauri moderni' (and Brand sent back eight marble columns at the same time and a further consignment of marble fragments, a vase and two modern mosaic pictures on 11 April 1780).5 Smuglewicz painted two family portraits (Christie's, 23 Jun. 1978,6 and Cheltenham AG), the first with a view of Castel Gandolfo, where the Beauclerks rented apartments through the summer of 1779.7 It was probably James Byres who suggested this commission; Smuglewicz had painted the Byres family and the 1790 inventory of Byres's house listed a portrait of Mr Beauclerk by [Solomon] Williams and an engraving of Lady Catherine Beauclerk.8 Busts of Aubrey and Lady Catherine have been attributed to Christopher Hewetson (Christie's, 9 Jul. 1979).9 In February 1779 Lady Catherine organised a raffle for the marble relief of Alcyone and Ceyx by Thomas Banks,10 apparently to aid the sculptor on his return journey to England, see Banks.
The Beauclerks left Rome with the Irish painter Solomon Delane; they were in Germany by February 1781,11 and reached England at the end of August.(12) Their return may have been prompted by Baron Vere (who d. 2 October 1781) although, according to Lady Mary Coke, they had had no intention of returning while he was alive.(13) Thomas Brand remained abroad thinking it 'more proper not to arrive in England at the same time'.(13)
As 5th Duke of St Albans, Aubrey Beauclerk sold a large part of his collection on 8/9 June 1798 to finance the rebuilding of Hanworth; the sale catalogue described the works as 'collected during a long residence at Rome, and other parts of the Continent' and included marbles from Centocelle, a Farnese Hercules restored by Albacini, several bronzes by Zoffoli, and paintings by Marco Ricci, Marieschi, and Delane.
1. By Ldy. Mary Lowther, see Wal.Corr., 33:294n. 2. D. Adamson & P. Beauclerk, House of Nell Gwynn, 88 - 90. 3. Swinburne, Courts, 1:214. 4. Eg.2001, f.216 (7 Nov. 1778). 5. ASR ABA 12, f.290 (28 Sep. 1779), f.294. (11 Apr. 1780). 6. F. Russel, Burl.Mag., 120[1978]:466 - 8 7. Knight Letters, 75, 79. Bankes MSS (H. Bankes, 14 Jul. 1779). 8. Byres MSS. 9. Hewetson 1986, 60. 10. Swinburne, Courts, 1:234. 11. Add.36493, f.128 (Irvine, 10 Feb. 1781). 12. Wal.Corr., 33:293n3. 13. Wal.Corr., 33:293 - 4.