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Richard Beaple (1564-1643) of Barnstaple, Devon, was a wealthy merchant, ship owner and member of the Spanish Company and was thrice Mayor of Barnstaple, in 1607, 1621 and 1635. His elaborate mural monument survives in St Peter's Church, Barnstaple.
Contents
Origins
He was one of the four sons of James Beaple (d.1616) of Barnstaple (son of Walter Beaple of Barnstaple), Mayor of Barnstaple in 1593 and 1604, by his first wife Elizabeth Goldsmith, daughter and heiress of a certain Mr Goldsmith of Devon. His uncle was Roger Beaple (1540-1604), a tanner who was twice Mayor of Barnstaple, in 1590 and 1599. His two sisters Anne and Joane married into the prominent Barnstaple mercantile families of Delbridge and Horwood respectively. The first recorded member of the Beaple family to have occupied the position of mayor was John Beaple, Mayor in 1559.
Beauple of Landkey
Although Vivian (1895) traces Richard's ancestry back only two generations to Walter Beaple of Barnstaple, the family appears to be descended from the Anglo-Norman family of Beauple, lords of the manors of Landkey and Knowstone, 2 1/2 miles and 19 miles south-east of the centre of Barnstaple respectively. The family also held the manor of "Hoggs Fee" in Barnstaple, consisting of 26 houses. The jury of an Inquisition Quod Damnum of 1344 were reported to have decided:
The mediaeval family of Beauple is first recorded in the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189) and died out in the senior male line seven generations later on the death of Ralph Beauple, when his heiress was his daughter Margaret Beauple, wife of Sir Neil Loring (c.1320-1386), KG, a founding member of the Order of the Garter. The armorials given by Pole (d.1635) for Beauple of Knowstone: Gules, a bend vairy cottised or are very similar to the arms of Beaple of Barnstaple, as displayed on Richard Beaple's monument in St Peter's Church, Barnstaple: Gules, a bend vairy between six escallops argent. The manor of Hogg's Fee however was never held by the Beaple family of Barnstaple. The descent of Hogg's Fee, similar to that of the manor of Barnstaple, is given by Gribble (1830) as follows:
Gribble wrote further:
Mercantile career
Little if anything is known of his mercantile career, although his merchant mark appears to be shown on the chaplet surrounding his arms on his monument in St Peter's Church, interwoven with the initials "RB". Three ships, presumably belonging to him and used in trade with Spain, for which he was licensed by his membership of the Spanish Company, are depicted on his monument in St Peter's Church.
Mayor of Barnstaple
Richard Beaple was thrice Mayor of Barnstaple, in 1607, 1621 and 1635. His career in the government of the Borough of Barnstaple appears to have started in August 1598, when he was elected a Common Councilman in place of Roger Cade, who was "put out for that he dwell'd out of this Towne above one year". Roger Cade was the father of his second wife Catherine Cade.
Member of the Spanish Company
Richard Beaple was a member of the Spanish Company, the members of which had been granted by royal charter in 1605 exclusive rights to trade with Spain. His membership is evidenced by his use of the Company's arms, supporters and crest on his monument in St Peter's Church. Barnstaple was one of the "privileged ports" of the Spanish Company, whose armorials are visible also on the mural monument in St Peter's Church to Richard Ferris (Mayor in 1632), who together with Alexander Horwood, received a payment from the Corporation of Barnstaple in 1630 for "riding to Exeter about the Spanish Company", on the decorated plaster ceiling of the former "Golden Lion Inn", 62 Boutport Street (now a restaurant next to the Royal and Fortescue Hotel) and on the 1630 plaster strapwork overmantel of Higher Rookabear House, Fremington, the country house of the Paige family, merchants of Barnstaple. The royal charter of 1605 which re-established the Spanish Company names several hundred founding members from named English ports, the 12 Barnstaple members being: William Gay, John Salisbury, John Darracott, John Mewles, George Gay, Richard Dodderidge, James Beaple, Nicholas Downe, James Downe, Robert Dodderidge, Richard Beaple and Pentecost Dodderidge, "merchants of Barnstaple". Richard Dodderidge and James Beaple were named as amongst the "first and present assistants and chief councillors of the fellowship".
Builds Penrose's Almhouses
Between 1624 and 1627 he and his four co-executors of the will of his son-in-law John Penrose (d.1624), Mayor of Barnstaple in 1620, built the large structure in Litchdon Street, Barnstaple, known today as Penrose's Almshouses. It consists of a cobbled courtyard around which are twenty almshouses, for forty poor residents, with chapel and board room, with vegetable gardens behind. His achievement in carrying out the terms of the bequest is recalled to the viewer by the depiction of the almshouses on the monument of Richard Beaple.
Executor of Westlake's Gift
Richard Beaple was appointed in 1636 one of the executors of the will of Katherine Westlake, with instructions to put into effect her charitable bequest, described by Gribble as follows:
"Katherine Westlake, of Barnstaple, widow, by her will, bearing date 19th April, 1636, gave to her executors £300, to the intent that they should put forth the same into some good hands for profit, and that the increase and profit thereof should, yearly, be distributed amongst the poor artificers of the town of Barnstaple, according to the discretion of her said executors; the said gift to continue for ever. And she directed, that when three of her executors should be dead, the two survivors should associate to themselves three other inhabitants of the said town, and so from time to time for ever, as often as by death they should be reduced to two, having regard to those of the common council of the said town, and likewise to those of her kindred; which persons should have the same powers, as if they had been appointed by her will, to execute all things, as her executors might do. She also gave to the executors £100, to the intent that they should yearly distribute the profit thereof amongst such poor young men and women, within the said town of Barnstaple, as should be newly come out of their apprenticeship, towards the setting up of their trade and better livelihood; and she appointed Richard Beaple, William Parnell, George Peard, Richard Medford, and Richard Ferris, to be her executors".
Marriages & progeny
Richard Beaple married thrice:
Death
Richard Beaple died on 30 December 1643, aged 79, as is recorded on his surviving monument in St Peter's Church.
Legacy
He was a generous benefactor of "Penrose's Almshouses", the almshouses in Lichadon Street in Barnstaple, which still stand, founded in 1627 by the will of John Penrose (d.1624), of Fremington, Mayor of Barnstaple in 1620. His generosity is recorded as part of the verse inscribed on his monument (see below):
A small coloured relief-sculpted depiction of these almshouses with a group of four poor inmates (with a woman, perhaps a wife, behind), within a roundel survives on the right side of Richard Beaple's monument, to match one on the left side depicting a merchant pointing to a treasure chest with three sailing ships on the sea behind.
Beaple's Gift
Gribble described "Beaple's Gift" as follows:
Monument
His surviving monument in St Peter's Church is now located in the south aisle of the chancel. Before the Victorian restoration it was located in the Mayor's Aisle in the north aisle, as was recorded in 1780 by Benjamin Incledon (1730-1796) who described it as a "Neat monument wherein is the figure of a man. In the Mayor's Isle ag(ain)st nth. east wall". It contains two slate tablets inscribed as follows, top tablet:
The lower tablet is inscribed in verse thus: