Hugh de Beauchamp

  Information about this person:

• Background Information. ⁸²⁹
Among the most eminent Norman families in the train of the Conqueror was that of Beauchamp, and amongst those that shared most liberally in the spoils of the Conquest.

Hugh de Beauchamp, the companion in arms of the Victorious Noman, obtained grants from William the Conqueror. He held estates in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire in 1084. His children were Simon, Walter, Milo, of Eaton in Bedforshire, Adeline who married Walter Espee, Lord of Kirham and Helmesley in Yorkshire.

~Burke's General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland and Scotland, extinct, dormant and in abeyance, pg. 30

• Background Information: Victoria County History A History of the County of Bedfordshire, Vol. III. ¹²⁰⁰
Bedford, Bedfordshire, England was the home of the barony of Beauchamp, of Bedford. It was probably granted to Hugh de Beauchamp by William II, who succeeded his father the year following the Survey, for the barony and castle were later found held by service of acting as almoner at the king's coronation. [Red Bk. of Exch. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 759] Hugh de Beauchamp has been identified as the successor of Ralph Taillebosc, [V.C.H. Beds. i, 199] and in 1086 was already one of the largest landowners in the county; entries of his property occur under forty-five parishes and hamlets, embracing some 160 hides, whilst he also owned smaller properties in the neighbouring counties of Buckingham and Hertford. [V.C.H. Bucks. i, 263. He held 20 hides in this county; V.C.H. Herts. i, 327, 344. He held 10 hides here] Little else is known of him, but he attested the foundation charter of Lessay Abbey at Caen on 14 July 1080 [a Cal. Doc. France, no. 919] and was still living c. 1091\endash 7, about which time he appears as a witness to a charter granted to Ramsey Abbey. (fn. 6) His successor was Simon de Beauchamp, in all probability his son.

~V.C.H., A History of the County of Bedford, Vol. III, pp 9-15