Francis William Lionel Collings Beaumont
Encyclopedia
Francis William Lionel Collings Beaumont (6 August 1903 – 4 May 1941), also known as F. W. L. C. Beaumont or “Buster” Beaumont, was the heir to the Seigneur of Sark, a Royal Air Force
officer, film producer and the husband of actress Mary Lawson
. He and Lawson were killed in 1941 during the Liverpool Blitz
.
and Sibyl Mary Collings, daughter of the Seigneur of Sark, the ruling family of the island of Sark
. Sark is a self governing territory that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British
Crown Dependency
in the English Channel
off the coast of Normandy
. The island has been called one of the last feudal outposts in Western Europe
, a term used by Beaumont’s mother to describe the island’s political system. Beaumont was named after his grandfather, William Frederick Collings
, the 20th Seigneur of Sark, but was often called by his nickname, Buster. On his father’s side of the family, Beaumont descended from a line of notable British Army
officers. His father served in France
during the First World War and died in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic. His grandfather, William Spencer Beaumont
, was a captain in the 14th King's Hussars
cavalry regiment
, while his great-great grandfather, John Thomas Barber Beaumont
was a well known miniature painter
who in 1803, during the Napoleonic Wars
, raised The Duke of Cumberland's Sharp Shooters corps.
In 1927 Beaumont’s mother became the 21st Seigneur of Sark and took the title Dame Sibyl Mary Collings Beaumont Hathaway. As his mother’s oldest son, Beaumont was the heir to the title of Seigneur of Sark.
, in St Peter Port
, Guernsey
. Beaumont’s mother wanted her son to study at the Royal Air Force College
at Cranwell
, but she faced financial difficulties following her husband’s death. She was forced to sell her farm on Sark and relocate to Guernsey and then Cologne
, Germany
in order to support her family. While still a cadet, Beaumont became an able pilot and participated in an RAF aerial show at Hendon
. In December 1923 Beaumont graduated from Cranwell, was commissioned as a pilot officer
on 19 December, and posted to No. 207 Squadron at Eastchurch
; on 19 June 1925 he was promoted to flying officer
. While serving Beaumont accumulated personal financial debts that threatened to end his career. His mother intervened with contacts in the RAF and pleaded for her son to be deployed abroad where he would be “away from the crowd of young irresponsibles he is running around with.” In November 1925 Beaumont was assigned to No. 45 Squadron
in Iraq
, where the British had established the Mandate of Mesopotamia. In 1928 Beaumont was assigned to the RAF depot at Uxbridge
near London
, and resigned his commission in the RAF on 3 October 1928.
and in October 1926 the couple were married in London. In December 1927 Mrs Beaumont gave birth to a son, John Michael Beaumont
, who would become the 22nd Seigneur of Sark in 1974.
Beaumont met his second wife, actress Mary Lawson
, while producing the 1936 film Toilers of the Sea, a film adaption of Victor Hugo
’s 1866 novel Les Travailleurs de la mer. Hugo’s book is set in Guernsey and Beaumont’s mother writes in her 1961 autobiography that scenes from the film were shot on Sark and that her son provided backing for the film, along with French
director/producer Jean Choux
; in the film credits the production company L. C. Beaumont is mentioned, but not Choux.
At this time Beaumont was still married to his first wife. It is uncertain when the affair between Lawson and Beaumont began, but Beaumont’s wife purchased an announcement in the November 30, 1937 edition of The Times
asking for a “dissolution” of their marriage “on the ground of his adultery with Miss Mary Lawson.” That year the Beaumonts were divorced, and on 22 June 1938 Beumont and Lawson were married in Chelsea
. In her memoirs, Beaumont’s mother makes no mention of her son’s second wife, rather she praises his first wife as a “charming girl” Upon marriage Lawson legally changed her name to Mary Elizabeth Beaumont, but she continued to use Mary Lawson as her stage name.
, founder of the British Union of Fascists
, to discuss the opening of a private radio broadcast station on Sark. In the 1930s, the British Broadcasting Corporation had a government sanctioned monopoly in Britain on broadcasting television and radio and private commercially broadcasts funded by advertisers were illegal. Mosley wanted to challenge this monopoly in order to raise funds for his fledgling party by setting up broadcast stations outside of the BBC’s jurisdiction. Mosley and Beaumont reportedly came to an agreement for a thirty year lease to set up a Radio Sark broadcast station on the island. There have been claims that Beaumont was sympathetic to the Mosley’s movement and that he and Mosley were amiable. Beaumont is also reported to have hidden the source of the funding of the radio station from his mother in order to obtain her approval. In addition, British government documents opened to the public in the 1990s reveal that Mosley sought funding from the German Nazi government for Radio Sark, though Beaumont is not implicated in these dealings.
Despite his connections with British fascists, Beaumont promptly rejoined the RAF at the outset of the Second World War in 1939; he was recommissioned as a pilot officer on probation on 26 September, and on 1 June 1940 he was promoted to war substantive flying officer. He seems later to have been promoted flight lieutenant
. He was assigned to the Administrative and Special Duties Branch, which includes the RAF’s intelligence section
. It is important to note that during the war the Channel Islands were occupied by German forces
and contact was severed between Beaumont and his relatives on Sark, including his mother, who remained on the island for the duration of the war.
, where they stayed at a hotel at 126 Smithdown Road
in the Sefton Park
district. On 1 May the German Luftwaffe
began a bombing campaign on Liverpool
that would last more than a week. On 4 May, as the warning sirens went off, family and friends at the hotel, including Lawson’s sister Dorothy, took safety in a shelter, while Lawson and Beaumont stayed in their room. The hotel was destroyed, killing the couple, while all those who sought safety in the shelter survived. The death of Beaumont and Lawson was announced in newspapers around the globe, but news of Beaumont’s death was slow to reach Sark because of the German occupation. Beaumont’s elder sister, Amice, who was in England at the time, contacted the embassy of the United States of America, which had yet to enter the war, and ask them to convey the news of her brother’s passing to German authorities. Beaumont’s mother was notified of her son’s death by the German Commandant in Guernsey, a Colonel von Schmettow, who conveyed the news in a manner that she described as “gently as possible.”
Beaumont and Lawson are buried in Liverpool. A memorial plaque with names of Beaumont and other former pupils of Elizabeth College that fell during the Second World War is located on the school grounds in Guernsey.
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
officer, film producer and the husband of actress Mary Lawson
Mary Lawson (actress)
Mary Elizabeth Lawson was a stage and film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to her performances on stage and screen, Lawson was known for her romantic affairs, including with tennis player Fred Perry and her future husband, the married son of the Dame of Sark...
. He and Lawson were killed in 1941 during the Liverpool Blitz
Liverpool Blitz
The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the British city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, at the time mostly within the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire but commonly known as Merseyside, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.Liverpool, Bootle, and the...
.
Family Background
Francis William Lionel Collings Beaumont was born on 6 August 1903. He was the second child of Dudley John BeaumontDudley John Beaumont
Dudley John Beaumont was a British army officer and a member of the ruling family of Sark. He was the first husband of Dame Sibyl Mary Collings Beaumont Hathaway, later 21st Seigneur of Sark, and grandfather of the 22nd Seigneur of Sark, John Michael Beaumont.-Life:Beaumont was the son of William...
and Sibyl Mary Collings, daughter of the Seigneur of Sark, the ruling family of the island of Sark
Sark
Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population...
. Sark is a self governing territory that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British
British Isles (terminology)
Various terms are used to describe the different geographical and political areas of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, and surrounding islands. The terminology is often a source of confusion, partly owing to the similarity between some of the actual words used, but also because they are often...
Crown Dependency
Crown dependency
The Crown Dependencies are British possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea....
in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
off the coast of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. The island has been called one of the last feudal outposts in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, a term used by Beaumont’s mother to describe the island’s political system. Beaumont was named after his grandfather, William Frederick Collings
William Frederick Collings
William Frederick Collings was Seigneur of Sark from 1882 to 1927. On his death, the title passed to his daughter, Sibyl Mary Hathaway....
, the 20th Seigneur of Sark, but was often called by his nickname, Buster. On his father’s side of the family, Beaumont descended from a line of notable British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officers. His father served in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during the First World War and died in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic. His grandfather, William Spencer Beaumont
William Spencer Beaumont
William Spencer Beaumont was a British army officer and a member of the London County Council.Beaumont was the grandson of John Thomas Barber Beaumont, who raised the Queen Victoria's Rifles in 1803 during the Napoleonic Wars. His father was J. A. Beaumont of Surrey. Beaumont served as a captain in...
, was a captain in the 14th King's Hussars
14th King's Hussars
The 14th King's Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for two centuries, before being amalgamated into the 14th/20th Hussars in 1922....
cavalry regiment
Cavalry regiments of the British Army
There are currently nine regular cavalry regiments of the British Army, with two tank regiments provided by the Royal Tank Regiment, traditionally classed alongside the cavalry, for a total of eleven regiments. Of these, five serve as armoured regiments, and five as formation reconnaissance...
, while his great-great grandfather, John Thomas Barber Beaumont
John Thomas Barber Beaumont
John Thomas Barber Beaumont was a British army officer, painter, author, and philanthropist...
was a well known miniature painter
Portrait miniature
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolour, or enamel.Portrait miniatures began to flourish in 16th century Europe and the art was practiced during the 17th century and 18th century...
who in 1803, during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, raised The Duke of Cumberland's Sharp Shooters corps.
In 1927 Beaumont’s mother became the 21st Seigneur of Sark and took the title Dame Sibyl Mary Collings Beaumont Hathaway. As his mother’s oldest son, Beaumont was the heir to the title of Seigneur of Sark.
Education and early military career
Beaumont was educated at Elizabeth CollegeElizabeth College, Guernsey
Elizabeth College is an independent school in the town of St Peter Port, Guernsey, founded in 1563 under the orders of Queen Elizabeth I.- History :...
, in St Peter Port
St Peter Port
Saint Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2001 was 16,488. In Guernésiais and in French, historically the official language of Guernsey, the name of the town and its surrounding parish is St Pierre Port. The "port" distinguishes this parish from...
, Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
. Beaumont’s mother wanted her son to study at the Royal Air Force College
Royal Air Force College Cranwell
The Royal Air Force College is the Royal Air Force training and education academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to be commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is responsible for all RAF recruiting along with...
at Cranwell
Cranwell
Cranwell is a village situated in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. It is part of the Civil Parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is located 3.95 miles north-north-west of Sleaford and 16.3 miles south-east of the county town of Lincoln...
, but she faced financial difficulties following her husband’s death. She was forced to sell her farm on Sark and relocate to Guernsey and then Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in order to support her family. While still a cadet, Beaumont became an able pilot and participated in an RAF aerial show at Hendon
Hendon Aerodrome
Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in Hendon, north London, England that, between 1908 and 1968, was an important centre for aviation.It was situated in Colindale, seven miles north west of Charing Cross. It nearly became "the Charing Cross of the UK's international air routes", but for the...
. In December 1923 Beaumont graduated from Cranwell, was commissioned as a pilot officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
on 19 December, and posted to No. 207 Squadron at Eastchurch
RAF Eastchurch
RAF Eastchurch was a Royal Air Force station near Eastchurch village in the English County of Kent. The history of aviation at Eastchurch stretches back to the first decade of the 20th century when it was used as an airfield by members of the Royal Aero Club...
; on 19 June 1925 he was promoted to flying officer
Flying Officer
Flying officer is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence...
. While serving Beaumont accumulated personal financial debts that threatened to end his career. His mother intervened with contacts in the RAF and pleaded for her son to be deployed abroad where he would be “away from the crowd of young irresponsibles he is running around with.” In November 1925 Beaumont was assigned to No. 45 Squadron
No. 45 Squadron RAF
-First World War:Formed during World War I at Gosport on 1 March 1916 as Number 45 Squadron, the unit was first equipped with Sopwith 1½ Strutters which it was to fly in the Scout role. Deployed to France in October of that year, the Squadron found itself suffering heavy losses due to the quality...
in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, where the British had established the Mandate of Mesopotamia. In 1928 Beaumont was assigned to the RAF depot at Uxbridge
RAF Uxbridge
RAF Uxbridge was a Royal Air Force station in Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon. Its grounds covered originally belonging to the Hillingdon House estate, which was purchased by the British Government in 1915, three years before the founding of the RAF...
near London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and resigned his commission in the RAF on 3 October 1928.
Marriages
In 1924, while serving in the RAF, it was announced that Beaumont was engaged to Enid Corinne Ripley of Outwood, SurreyOutwood, Surrey
Outwood is a village in the Surrey weald. It is home to the oldest working windmill in England. The village lies to the east of the M23 which runs between the M25 and London Gatwick Airport. A neighbouring village is Smallfield....
and in October 1926 the couple were married in London. In December 1927 Mrs Beaumont gave birth to a son, John Michael Beaumont
John Michael Beaumont
John Michael Beaumont, OBE is the 22nd Seigneur of Sark. A retired engineer, he is a son of Francis William Lionel Collings Beaumont and Enid . He succeeded his grandmother, Sibyl Hathaway, as the ruler of Sark upon her death in 1974.- References :...
, who would become the 22nd Seigneur of Sark in 1974.
Beaumont met his second wife, actress Mary Lawson
Mary Lawson (actress)
Mary Elizabeth Lawson was a stage and film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to her performances on stage and screen, Lawson was known for her romantic affairs, including with tennis player Fred Perry and her future husband, the married son of the Dame of Sark...
, while producing the 1936 film Toilers of the Sea, a film adaption of Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
’s 1866 novel Les Travailleurs de la mer. Hugo’s book is set in Guernsey and Beaumont’s mother writes in her 1961 autobiography that scenes from the film were shot on Sark and that her son provided backing for the film, along with French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
director/producer Jean Choux
Jean Choux
Jean Choux was a French film director and producer.-Filmography:*1925 : La Vocation d'André Carel*1926 : La Terre qui meurt*1927 : Le Baiser qui tue*1928 : Espionnage ou la guerre sans armes*1929 : Chacun porte sa croix...
; in the film credits the production company L. C. Beaumont is mentioned, but not Choux.
At this time Beaumont was still married to his first wife. It is uncertain when the affair between Lawson and Beaumont began, but Beaumont’s wife purchased an announcement in the November 30, 1937 edition of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
asking for a “dissolution” of their marriage “on the ground of his adultery with Miss Mary Lawson.” That year the Beaumonts were divorced, and on 22 June 1938 Beumont and Lawson were married in Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
. In her memoirs, Beaumont’s mother makes no mention of her son’s second wife, rather she praises his first wife as a “charming girl” Upon marriage Lawson legally changed her name to Mary Elizabeth Beaumont, but she continued to use Mary Lawson as her stage name.
Fascist connection and the Second World War
In 1937 Beaumont reportedly met with Oswald MosleyOswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, founder of the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
, to discuss the opening of a private radio broadcast station on Sark. In the 1930s, the British Broadcasting Corporation had a government sanctioned monopoly in Britain on broadcasting television and radio and private commercially broadcasts funded by advertisers were illegal. Mosley wanted to challenge this monopoly in order to raise funds for his fledgling party by setting up broadcast stations outside of the BBC’s jurisdiction. Mosley and Beaumont reportedly came to an agreement for a thirty year lease to set up a Radio Sark broadcast station on the island. There have been claims that Beaumont was sympathetic to the Mosley’s movement and that he and Mosley were amiable. Beaumont is also reported to have hidden the source of the funding of the radio station from his mother in order to obtain her approval. In addition, British government documents opened to the public in the 1990s reveal that Mosley sought funding from the German Nazi government for Radio Sark, though Beaumont is not implicated in these dealings.
Despite his connections with British fascists, Beaumont promptly rejoined the RAF at the outset of the Second World War in 1939; he was recommissioned as a pilot officer on probation on 26 September, and on 1 June 1940 he was promoted to war substantive flying officer. He seems later to have been promoted flight lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
. He was assigned to the Administrative and Special Duties Branch, which includes the RAF’s intelligence section
RAF Intelligence
Intelligence services in the Royal Air Force is delivered by Officers of the Royal Air Force Operations Support Intelligence Branch and Airmen from the Intelligence Analyst Trade and Intelligence Analyst Trade...
. It is important to note that during the war the Channel Islands were occupied by German forces
Occupation of the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for much of World War II, from 30 June 1940 until the liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands are two British Crown dependencies and include the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey as well as the smaller islands of Alderney and Sark...
and contact was severed between Beaumont and his relatives on Sark, including his mother, who remained on the island for the duration of the war.
Death
In May 1941 Beaumont received a week’s leave and he, Lawson, friends and family travelled to LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, where they stayed at a hotel at 126 Smithdown Road
Smithdown Road, Liverpool
Smithdown Road is a street in Liverpool, England, which forms part of the A562. It is the location of Toxteth Park Cemetery and Wavertree Playground. Penny Lane junction, the subject of The Beatles song Penny Lane, is situated at the junction of Smithdown Road, Smithdown Place and Penny Lane...
in the Sefton Park
Sefton Park
Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a district of the same name within the Liverpool City Council Ward of Mossley Hill, and roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of Toxteth Park...
district. On 1 May the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
began a bombing campaign on Liverpool
Liverpool Blitz
The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the British city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, at the time mostly within the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire but commonly known as Merseyside, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.Liverpool, Bootle, and the...
that would last more than a week. On 4 May, as the warning sirens went off, family and friends at the hotel, including Lawson’s sister Dorothy, took safety in a shelter, while Lawson and Beaumont stayed in their room. The hotel was destroyed, killing the couple, while all those who sought safety in the shelter survived. The death of Beaumont and Lawson was announced in newspapers around the globe, but news of Beaumont’s death was slow to reach Sark because of the German occupation. Beaumont’s elder sister, Amice, who was in England at the time, contacted the embassy of the United States of America, which had yet to enter the war, and ask them to convey the news of her brother’s passing to German authorities. Beaumont’s mother was notified of her son’s death by the German Commandant in Guernsey, a Colonel von Schmettow, who conveyed the news in a manner that she described as “gently as possible.”
Beaumont and Lawson are buried in Liverpool. A memorial plaque with names of Beaumont and other former pupils of Elizabeth College that fell during the Second World War is located on the school grounds in Guernsey.