Beau Nash
Beau Nash (18 October 1674 – 3 February 1762), born Richard Nash, was a celebrated
Biography
Nash was born in St Mary's Street, Swansea, Wales, in 1674.[1][2] His father, Richard, a native of Pembroke, had risen to be partner in a glass-works at Swansea, which - although he was "of modest means"[1] - gave him the means to pay for his son's education. Nash's mother was a niece of the Welsh merchant John Poyer, who was mayor of Pembroke town and served during the English Civil War. The Nash family were "known" in the countryside, but the Poyer family was of "gentler blood".[3] Nash's comparatively obscure origins were sometimes the subject of comment; when the Duchess of Marlborough mentioned it, Nash replied "Madam, I seldom mention my father in company, not because I have any reason to be ashamed of him, but because he has some reason to be ashamed of me."[4]
After attending Queen Elizabeth Grammar School at Carmarthen, he went up to Jesus College, Oxford, leaving without a degree.[4] His father then bought him a commission as an Army officer, but he found the demands on his time too great, and instead opted to become a barrister, for which profession he had originally been intended.[4] He entered as a student of the Middle Temple in 1693, where he was known for "good manners... his taste in dress, and... leading so gay a life" without any obvious source of wealth that his friends suspected him to be a highwayman.[4] He was selected from amongst the students there to take charge of the Middle Temple's long-customary [5] pageant for a new king, exhibited before King William III in 1695. His success led to the offer of knighthood, which he declined on the grounds of his lack of fortune. It was said that he was later again offered a knighthood, by Queen Anne, but again refused the honour.[4][6]
In 1704, Nash became
His position was unofficial, but nevertheless he had extensive influence in the city until early 1761, including regulating gambling.
The Corporation of the city funded an elaborate funeral for Nash, and he was buried in the nave of Bath Abbey, not far from where a memorial was raised to him[7] in 1790.[8]
Nash was a notorious gambler who was forced[citation needed] to move in with his mistress, Juliana Popjoy, because of his debts. Upon their separation, Popjoy was so distraught that she spent the majority of her remaining days living in a large hollowed-out tree.[9] Shortly before her death, she moved out of the tree and back to her birth home, where she died.[citation needed]
His death caused quite a stir at the time, with the celebrated author Oliver Goldsmith being moved to write The Life of Richard Nash as early as 1762.[10]
Nash and Wesley
In his journal and letters, John Wesley, preacher and founder of Methodism, tells of a confrontation with Nash in Bath in 1739. According to his own account, Wesley's journey to Bath had been expected for some time, and Nash had made public his determination to confront him. Wesley proceeded to Bath, even though some people, afraid of the outcome, tried to talk him out of it. When Wesley began his preaching, there was "a much larger audience, among whom were many of the rich and great."
Facing Wesley, Nash questioned his authority, comparing the gathering to a
Beau Nash and Tunbridge Wells
In 1735, Nash appointed himself Master of Ceremonies in
Later use of name
A cinema was erected in Westgate Street in Bath in 1920 and named the Beau Nash Picture House in memory of Nash. The building, now Grade II listed, is currently known as the Komedia.[13]
In popular culture
In 1999,
Nash's life and death are major plot elements in the 2017 detective novel Beau Death by Peter Lovesey.[15] The book includes a fictitious Beau Nash Society consisting of prominent citizens of Bath.
A grandson is portrayed in the comedic historical novel Belle Nash and the Bath Soufflé by William Keeling.[16]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Though Idris Williams (in 1926) states the address as Goat St.
- ^ Beau Nash- Monarch of Bath and Tunbridge Wells, Willard Connely, Laurie 1955, pp. 1-2
- ^ a b c d e f Seccombe, Thomas (1894). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 40.
- ^ a b Williams, Idris (1926). "Beau Nash : King of Bath". Welsh Outlook. 13 (8): 213.
- ^ a b c "Beau Nash, the Welsh dandy". 17 October 2011.
- ^ mym (31 May 2011), beau, retrieved 1 July 2020
- ^ notice of his funeral, Oxford Journal 21 Feb 1761, Burial notice, Bath Abbey parish registers 1761, position of grave from Guide to Bath 1813, and Notes for visitors to Bath Abbey by George Ford, 1982
- ^ "Newspaper article announcing the death of Juliana Papjoy, March 1777". Bath in Time, Images of Bath online. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-139-08397-3
- ^ Journal of John Wesley at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website
- ^ The Letters of John Wesley, 1739, at the Wesley Center Online
- ^ "Old 'Beau Nash' reopens tonight". Bath Chronicle. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 Extra - King of Bath". BBC. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ^ "Beau Death". Soho Press. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ^ Broadsheet Books (2022)
External links and sources
- The Life of Beau Nash by Oliver Goldsmith
- John Eglin, The Imaginary Autocrat: Beau Nash and the Invention of Bath, Profile, 2005. ISBN 1-86197-302-0 [reviewed by Timothy Mowlin the Times Literary Supplement, 8 July 2005, p. 32]
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
.
- Newspaper article announcing the death of Juliana Popjoy, March 1777