Reverend Lord Timothy Wentworth Beaumont

Apr 14 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

OF COURSE, the money helped him live a life of glorious, celebrated eccentricity, huffing behind saucer glasses and an eccentric beard, of the philosophical/ Biblical brand, while dipping a sandaled sole into various causes, which often disappeared from memory with surprising rapidity.

His natural home was the old Liberal Party of ideas and intellectuals, before it merged with the Social Democrats and settled for grey suits and PR presentation in a bid to become more electable.

For much of his life, he hopped uncertainly between politics and religion, as was explained in his publication, Where Shall I Place My Cross? Maybe he never really knew.

But that didn’t stop the Reverend Lord Timothy Wentworth Beaumont of Whitley contributing to British public life in numerous spheres.

His father, Major Michael Beaumont, a Conservative MP, had married Faith Pease, daughter of Jack, a Quaker turned Anglican, who had served as Chief Whip in Herbert Asquith’s Liberal Government. There was plenty of money on her side of the family, which young Michael would spend with gusto later in life.

After a brief spell at Eton, he was sent to Gordonstoun, the Scottish boarding school, meant to stiffen the moral fibre. At Christ Church, Oxford, Beaumont scraped a fourth in agriculture, hardly the qualification to catapult him into holy orders, which was his ambition. Beaumont’s theological training was completed at Westcott House, Cambridge, and he was ordained in Hong Kong where he worked between 1955 and 1957.

On his return to England, he was involved in religious journalism and became active in the Liberal Party. This resulted in him being its chairman (1967/68) and president (1969/70). He was created a life peer in 1967. He resigned from the church in 1973, but returned in 1984 and was vicar of All Souls, Kew.

Beaumont left the Liberal Democrats in 1999 and joined the Green Party, being their only member in the House of Lord. Greening the planet was an enthusiasm for the married father of four, who embraced challenges and never brushed dull conformity.

He was also a member of Press for Change, a campaign group for transgender people. In 2006, he put forth a Bill to prohibit the use of piped music and TV in public places, while requiring people playing personal stereos to wear headphones.

Lord Beaumont of Whitley, politician/priest; born November 22, 1928, died April 9, 2008.