John Beaumont

Who is John Beaumont?

John Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, was great-grandson of Sir Thomas Beaumont, of Bachuile, in Normandy, and great-great-grandson of John de Beaumont, baron, knight of the Garter, who died in 1396. The barony, with which his family had been collaterally connected, had already fallen into abeyance in his time through the death of the seventh baron and second viscount without issue in 1507, the viscounty then became extinct. The sixth baron had been distinguished as the first viscount ever created in this country. The barony was claimed, but unsuccessfully, in 1798 by Thomas Stapleton, who traced his descent to Joan Beaumont, sister and heir of the seventh baron. His grand-nephew, Miles Thomas Stapleton, father of the present baron, was successful in asserting his claim in 1840.