Well sorry to break this, ex-President of the Liberals, Green Party parliamentarian and Green Left supporter, former clergy man, campaigner on a range of progressive issues from climate change to transgender to human rights, Tim Beaumont has died.
He will be missed by me and lots of you who have followed his good work.
I owe him a big debt because he was a heavy weight no leader campaigner, 'He strongly supported the current Green Party system of having Principal Speakers rather than a leader, saying that "in 60 years in politics I have only known one good party leader"! He never told us if this was Jo Grimond, Mr Thorpe or David Steel...nice by the way to see a politician move in a more radical direction with age...although as we know there used to be a big radical liberal wing, think of the red guard of the young liberals in the late 1960s, few of them now I guess
This is how I heard, a few minutes ok:
Dear all,
It is with great sadness that I have to inform you of the death yesterday of Tim Beaumont, Lord Beaumont of Whitley. A memorial service will be held at 2.30 pm on Friday 18th April at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Narbourne Avenue, SW4. All are welcome to attend, I will be there. I will also send a cardon behalf of the party.
-- Councillor Richard Mallender,
Green Party, Lady Bay ward, Rushcliffe Borough Council
Chair, Green Party Executive
Timothy Wentworth Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley (born 22 November 1928) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is the only person to sit in the House of Lords as a member of the Green Party.
Beaumont's father, Michael Beaumont, was a Conservative Member of Parliament; his maternal grandfather was Liberal politician Joseph Albert Pease, 1st Baron Gainford. Timothy was educated at Eton College, Gordonstoun School, Christ Church, Oxford and Westcott House. He became an Anglican priest in Kowloon, Hong Kong 1957-59.
He was created a Liberal Life peer as Baron Beaumont of Whitley, of Child's Hill in Greater London in 1967. He was chair of the Liberal Party 1967-8 and President 1969-70. In 1973 he resigned his holy orders, but resumed them in 1984, becoming Vicar of All Souls, Kew in the Diocese of Southwark, now retired. He joined the Liberal Democrats but objected to their support for free trade and joined the Green Party in 1999.
Beaumont is a patron of transgender equality campaign group Press for Change.
He is married to Mary Rose Wauchope, with whom he has had two sons and two daughters named Hubert, Aleric, Atalanta, and Ariadne and has a total of ten grandchildren: Amelia, George, Richard, Felix, Michael, Oliver, Milo, Casper, Clio and Isabella.
In May 2006 Lord Beaumont put forth a bill to "draw up a plan to prohibit piped music and the showing of television programmes in the public areas of hospitals and on public transport; and to require the wearing of headphones by persons listening to music in the public areas of hospitals and on public transport." [1]
He strongly supported the current Green Party system of having Principal Speakers rather than a leader, saying that "in 60 years in politics I have only known one good party leader"[2].
2 comments:
This is terribly sad - Lord Beaumont was always really friendly and kind to me whenever we met.
RIP Tim.
We may have ended up in different parties, but I never stopped admiring and feeling affection for Tim. I worked with him quite a lot over the years, and appreciated his friendship and wise support and advice. I'll miss seeing him never without at least three books, all on the go.
Sally Hamwee
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