BECKFORD, Richard (1712-56).

Richard Beckford was one of the biggest planters in Jamaica, with an estate of 9,242 acres,‘List of Landholders in Jamaica, 1754’, CO142/31; also Add. 12436. and was there at the time of the general election of 1754. The campaign at Bristol, where he stood as a Tory on a joint interest with Sir John Philipps, was managed for him by his brother William, whom he followed in the House.

During his short term in a poorly reported Parliament, three speeches by him are recorded. About the first, on the army estimates, 27 Nov. 1754, Walpole writes:Mems. Geo. II, i. 410.

The younger Beckford, who had been announced for a genius, and had laid a foundation for being so by studying magazines and historical registers, made a tedious harangue against standing armies.

His second speech, during the debate on the Bristol night-watch bill, 17-19 Jan. 1755, dealt with the government of Bristol and the ‘arbitrary power’ of its magistrates’ filling up vacancies by co-option;Parl. Hist. xv. 479-88. while his third speech, on the Oxfordshire election, 23 Apr. 1755, drew arguments against the claim of copyholders in a county election from the composition of the Saxon armies which had conquered the country:Ibid. 450-8.

I have troubled you with so much of our ancient history to show how far we have already departed from the wise maxims of our ancestors; and the inconvenience of our having done so, is now felt by every gentleman who stands candidate at a county election.

Beckford died at Lyons 24 Jan. 1756.