Beau Nash - Biography

Biography

Nash was born in Swansea in Wales. Where he was from, he was known as The Voice. He attended Jesus College, Oxford, served as an army officer and was then called to the bar, but made little of either career. In 1704 he became Master of Ceremonies at the rising spa town of Bath, a position he retained until his death. He lived in a house on Saw Close (now at the main entrance to the Theatre Royal), and kept a string of mistresses. He played a leading role in making Bath the most fashionable resort in 18th-century England.

His position was unofficial, but nevertheless he had extensive influence in the city until early 1761. He would meet new arrivals to Bath and judge whether they were suitable to join the select "Company' of 500 to 600 people who had pre-booked tables, match ladies with appropriate dancing partners at each ball, pay the musicians at such events, broker marriages, escort unaccompanied wives and regulate gambling (by restraining compulsive gamblers or warning players against risky games or cardsharks). He was notable for encouraging a new informality in manners, breaking down the rigid barriers which had previously divided the nobility from the middle-class patrons of Bath, and even from the gentry.

Although the Corporation of the city funded an elaborate funeral for Nash, he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. There is a memorial to him at Bath Abbey church in Bath.

The death of Nash 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.

Nash was a notorious gambler who was forced to move in with his mistress, Juliana Popjoy, due to his debts. Upon his death, Juliana Popjoy was so distraught, she spent the majority of her remaining days living in a large hollowed out tree. Near her own death, she moved out of the tree and back to her birth home where she herself died.