BEALE, Francis (1577-at least 1637), of Barnes, Surr.; later of Newport, I.o.W

Beale’s family originated in Woodbridge, Suffolk.11 Add. 19117, ff. 227-31v. His father, Robert Beale, a puritan exile during Mary’s reign, was promoted to clerk of the Privy Council under Elizabeth, and sat in five parliaments. He resided near his kinsman Sir Francis Walsingham’s estate of Barn Elms in Surrey, and also acquired the manor of Frensham and property further afield.12 VCH Surr. ii. 610. After his father’s death, Beale, the eldest of two sons, sold the Warwickshire manor of Priors Marston for £1,700, perhaps in order to help support his numerous sisters.13 M.E. Finch, Wealth of Five Northants. Fams. (Northants. Rec. Soc. xix), 176. His father’s former involvement in the Company of Mines Royal accounts for Beale’s appointment as an assistant in 1605.14 Oxford DNB sub Robert Beale.

Beale was returned for Northampton in 1614 with the help of his brother-in-law, solicitor-general (Sir) Henry Yelverton*, the town’s recorder, with the stipulation that he must be sworn a freeman, and pay his own charges.15 Northampton Bor. Recs. ed. J.C. Cox, ii. 495. He left no trace on the records of the Addled Parliament. Unhappily married, in 1617 he was sentenced by High Commission to allow his wife £30 annually as alimony, though this was subsequently reduced to £10 by the Yelvertons upon proof of her misconduct.16 Glos. RO, D547a/L12. He moved to the Isle of Wight in about 1620. Honoured by Newport with the freedom of the borough, he was soon on convivial terms with the corporation, whom he persuaded to elect his nephew Sir Christopher Yelverton* to the Parliaments of 1626 and 1628, on the latter occasion in defiance of the wishes of the governor, the 1st Viscount Conway (Sir Edward Conway I*).17 L. Boynton, ‘Billeting: the example of the Isle of Wight’, EHR, lxxiv. 29. He is last heard of as a Hampshire militia officer in the Portsdown regiment in 1637.18 Add. 21922, f. 201.