Rose Beckford

One of the illegitimate children of 'Alderman Beckford.' He was acknowledged in William Beckford's will and inherited £5000.

1. Will of Rose Beckford of St Catherine Jamaica [made in 1770] proved 02/11/1803. In the will he left £3000 to his brother Thomas Beckford (now or late of Oxford, son of 'my mother Hannah Maxwell'). and £2000 to his sister Susanna. Administration of the will of Rose Beckford late of New Broad Street and of Offley Holes near Hitchin Herts. a bachelor, who died at Offley Holes 28/08/1801 was granted 13/01/1863 to the Treasury Solicitor, effects under £5000. The 1803 grant of probate described him as a bastard.

2. The conduct of Robert Curling, who had lent Rose Beckford £4000 on mortgage in c. 1795 and came into possession of the Offley Holes estate after Rose Beckford's death, was publicly defended by Edward Spencer Curling, Robert Curling's son, against the Gentleman's Magazine in 1810. The correspondence included the assertion that Rose Beckford had himself left an illegitimate daughter aged 7 'unprotected and unprovided for.'

1. PROB 11/1400/201; National Probate Calendar 1863.

2. Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 107 (Apr. 1810), pp. 306-7.