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Beaufort House was a grand mansion built beside theRiver Thames atChelsea, London, byThomas More in about 1520, while he held the position ofLord Chancellor toKing Henry VIII. On his arrest in 1534 all of More's property was forfeit to theCrown. The house was given the name ofBeaufort House only in 1682, when it passed into the hands of the1st Duke of Beaufort. It was demolished in 1739, giving its name to present-dayBeaufort Street.
As More's royal duties frequently required his attendance at the king's Thames-side palaces in bothRichmond andGreenwich, it was convenient to select a riverside property situated between them (the common method of transport being by boat) for his home. In about 1520, for £30 (equivalent to £24,000 in 2023) he purchased a 27-acre (11-hectare) parcel of land stretching from the Thames in Chelsea to the present-dayKing's Road; the east and west boundaries are represented by the present-dayOld Church Street and Millman's Street.[1] There he built a dignified red-brick mansion (known simply as More's house or Chelsea House). As well as a family chapel within the building, More had built a separate, small chapel in the grounds for himself for solitary prayer andpenance.[2]
More moved in by 1525, as is shown by the bawdy poemThe Twelve Mery Jestes of Wyddow Edyth, written by a member of More's household (or even by More himself) using the pseudonym of "Walter Smith" and published in March of that year: the widow arrives by boat at "Chelsay[…]where she had best cheare of all/in the house of Syr Thomas More."[3][4]
Upon More's arrest in 1534 the estate was confiscated, coming into the possession of theComptroller of the Royal Household,William Paulet. In 1538 it was considered sufficiently impressive to give as temporary accommodation toLouis de Perreau, Sieur de Castillon, the French ambassador to the English court; the delicate matter of choosing a French royal wife for King Henry (after the death of QueenJane Seymour) was under consideration.[5][6] Subsequent owners associated with theroyal household included Paulet's son,John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester, andGregory Fiennes, Lord Dacre of the South. After the execution of Fiennes the house passed toLord Burleigh,Queen Elizabeth's chief minister, to be followed by his youngest son,Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, who took possession in 1597.[7] Cecil remodelled the front of the house in 1597, using the designs of architectJohn Thorpe, but shortly afterwards he sold it toHenry Clinton, 2nd Earl of Lincoln in order to buy property nearer toWestminster.[8]
By 1620 the property had passed through the hands of the Earl of Lincoln into the possession of the earl's son-in-lawSir Arthur Gorges, who sold it toLionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex. In 1627, Cranfield surrendered the estate to theDuke of Buckingham, when it became known as Buckingham House. In 1674, it was acquired by theEarl of Bristol, whose widowAnne sold it to theMarquess of Worcester, the future Duke of Beaufort. In 1682 the property was renamed Beaufort House after its new owner.[9] It gave its name to the present-dayBeaufort Street.[7]
The final owner, from 1737, wasSir Hans Sloane, who demolished the building in 1740.[10] The north (Kings Road) gate to the property, designed byInigo Jones, was saved and transported toChiswick House.[11]
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After having stood empty for several years was purchased by Sir Hans Sloane in the year 1536[…] and was pulled down in 1740.