Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Beaufort, Daniel Augustus
BEAUFORT, DANIEL AUGUSTUS, LL.D. (1739–1821), geographer, born on 1 Oct. 1739 at East Barnet, was the son of Daniel Cornelis de Beaufort, a French refugee (1700-1788), who became pastor of the Huguenot church in Spitalfields in 1728, and of that in Parliament Street, Bishopsgate, in 1729; entered the church of England in 1731; married Esther Gougeon in London,11 June 1738, and was rector of East Barnet from 1739 to 1743. Going to Ireland with Lord Harrington, the father became rector of Navan in 1747, was provost and archdeacon of Tuam from 1753 to 1758, was rector of Clonenagh from 1758 until his death thirty years later, and published in English, in 1788, 'A Short Account of the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome, divested of all Controversy.' His brother, Louis de Beaufort, published (in 1738) a work on the uncertainty of Roman history, supposed to have given some suggestions to Niebuhr.
Daniel Augustus was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, of which he was elected a scholar in 1757. He became B.A. in 1759, M.A. in 1764, and LL.D. (honoris causa) in 1789. He was ordained by the Bishop of Salisbury, and, in succession to his father, was rector of Navan, co. Meath, from 1765 to 1818. In 1790 he was presented by the Right Hon. John Foster to the vicarage of Collon, co. Louth. He afterwards built the church at Collon, where he remained until his death in 1821. He was successively collated to the prebendal stalls of Kilconnell, in the diocese of Clonfert, (3 Oct. 1818), and of Mayne, in the diocese of Ossory (20 April 1820).
Dr. Beaufort took a prominent part in the foundation of Sunday schools and in the preparation of elementary educational works. The Royal Irish Academy owed its formation in great measure to his exertions. His most important work was his map of Ireland, published in 1792, and accompanied by a memoir of the civil and ecclesiastical state of the country. All the places marked on the map are systematically indexed in the memoir and assigned to their respective parishes, baronies, &c. In the preface the author states that this map was prepared from original observations to remedy the defects of existing maps of Ireland. Competent authorities pronounce it and the memoir to be valuable contributions to geography. The publication of this work was encouraged by the Marquis of Buckingham, lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Beaufort married Mary, daughter and coheiress of William Waller, of Allenstown, co. Meath. Their elder son, William Louis Beaufort (1771-1849), was rector of Glanmire, and prebendary of Rathcooney, Cork, from 1814 until his death in 1849. Their younger son was Sir Francis Beaufort [q. v.].
[Information from W. M. Beaufort, Esq.; Times, 18 June 1821; Gent. Mag. vol ix.; Cotton's Fasti Hibernici; Monthly Review, xiii. 173; Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.19
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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