BEAUMONT, Somerset Archibald (1835-1921), of 24 St James’s Place, Mdx. and Bywell Hall, nr. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumb.

With his father and grandfather having represented Northumberland, and his brother sitting for the southern division of the county from 1852 to 1885, Somerset Beaumont was a member of a politically distinguished family, who owned extensive estates and lead mines in the region.1His father, Thomas Wentworth Beaumont, represented the Northumberland as a Whig, 1818-26, and 1832-7, HP Commons, 1820-32, iv. 220. His grandfather, Col. Thomas Richard Beaumont, was a Tory member from 1775 to 1818. Returned for Newcastle at a by-election in 1860 at the age of only 25, Beaumont was a staunch supporter of Palmerston’s government, particularly its foreign policy, and championed Italian independence and the strengthening of the Anglo-French alliance.2Newcastle Courant, 23 Nov. 1860.

An occasional speaker, Beaumont’s contributions were mainly concerned with promoting commercial treaties with European states.3Hansard, 27 June 1862, vol. 167, c. 1150; 4 Aug. 1862, vol. 168, c. 1207; 17 Feb. 1863, vol. 169, cc. 436-7. In 1863, along with George Grenfell Glyn MP, Beaumont conceived and established the Anglo-Austrian bank, which began operations in January 1864, and he spearheaded the pressure from British chambers of commerce for an Anglo-Austrian commercial treaty. 4Bankers’ Magazine, vol. 25 (1865), 742. Convinced that Austria had richer coal resources than had hitherto been appreciated,5Beaumont to W. S. Jevons, 26 July 1865, Papers and correspondence of William Stanley Jevons, iii, ed. R.D. Collison Black, (1977), 71. and that Hungary and other countries of the Danubian basin could supply Britain with raw materials, Beaumont subsequently became ‘the most significant financial mediator between the Austrian government and Britain’, and was part of the delegation led by William Hutt, vice-president of the board of trade, that concluded the Anglo-Austrian commercial treaty, 16 Dec. 1865.6T. Frank, Picturing Austria-Hungary: the British perception of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1865-1870 (2005), 58-9. For Beaumont’s correspondence with Hutt during the negotiations see BL Add. MSS, 39114, ff. 316-8; 39115, ff. 220, 222. Beaumont also served on the select committee on trade with foreign nations, which recommended placing the board of trade ‘on an equality’ with the foreign office, putting the board of trade in direct communication with members of the consular and diplomatic service, and appointing more foreign office staff to conduct correspondence with the board of trade.7PP 1864 (493), vii. 284. One year later, however, it was reported that the foreign office had made little effort to act upon these recommendations.8Hansard, 17 Mar. 1865, vol. 177, cc. 1850-1900.

A regular attender in the early stages of his parliamentary career, Beaumont consistently supported Palmerston’s administration, voting for the abolition of church rates, 14 May 1862, against the repeal of the Maynooth grant, 2 June 1863, and against Disraeli’s motion rebuking the government’s policy over the Danish conflict, 8 July 1864. To the dismay of his constituents, however, Beaumont, who opposed universal suffrage and the ballot, voted against Edward Baines’s motion for a £6 occupier borough franchise, 11 May 1864.9Newcastle Courant, 14 July 1865. Seeking to defend his seat at the 1865 general election, he was also criticised for his attendance record during the 1865 session, his Liberal opponent claiming that he voted in only 8 divisions, a charge supported by the known division lists.10Newcastle Courant, 14 July 1865; House of Commons Division Lists, 1865 sess. With his reputation tarnished, and faced by two rival Liberal candidates, he finished bottom of the poll.

Beaumont returned to parliament in 1868 as a Liberal MP for Wakefield, and thereafter focused his energies on attempting to remove bishops from the House of Lords.11Western Mail, 11 Feb. 1874. He retired from public life in 1874, however, and died, unmarried and without children, in December 1921.