Left Off A Beached Tree

By Roy Beaufoy



(that's 'Beau' as in 'Boat'
and 'Foy' as in 'Foil')
A long time ago, in a galaxy
far, far away...
Well, when I say galaxy, I actually mean just across the English channel. There lived a race of humans who, it was believed, desperately wanted to go on holiday (mainly for the duty-free booze, we think!).
So, their fearless bus driver, William the Honker, led a rag-tag fleet of ships and other assorted floating objects across the big blue wet thing, aiming roughly at Dover.
These were men with a mission. A mission much longer than five years.
Their life-long mission - to seek out new wives and new civil libations, to boldly plod where no Beaufoy has plodded before! Having passed through Customs, they boldly plodded onto Hastings, whereupon, for some unknown reason, they thrust an arrow into Harold's eye.
This event was witnessed by a passing amateur rug-maker and would be forever known as the Baywatch Tapestry.
(Surfs himself right!)
On August 8th, 1787, Colonel Mark Beaufoy became the first Englishman to scale Mont Blanc in France. Obvious really when you think about it, making it smaller made it easier to climb.
Before that took place, Ralph de Bello Fago (as the Beaufoys used to be called...) was called upon for service with the Army in Scotland. This was in 1297, at the time when Edward I was fighting Sir William Wallace (aka Mel Gibson aka Braveheart). Well, their armies were doing the fighting...
Over the years, our surname has been
mis-spelt many different ways...
Beufoy, Benufox, Beafoy, Beaujoy. I was told of a B.Foy a while back, but we carry on regardless...
We're used to it by now!
The family of Beaufoy take their name from a beech tree, and it literally means 'Beautiful Beech' (the old French for beech being 'fau' or 'fawe'), which tree is, and always has been, the family crest with the motto
'Sub Tegmine Fagi'.
In actual fact, in Domesday, the name is spelt as Galsagus, Bellofagus, Beaufoe and Beaufou. The Latin version which was used until about the middle of the 14th century probably showed that some of the Beaufoys were among the leaders in the Italian wars, when Rollo crossed the Alps.
However, almost one thousand years after the first Beaufoys arrived in Britain, evolution has taken its toll on these wondrous nomadic people, and has ultimately resulted in...
It's only me...
in a very rare pose for the camera!!!
(taken June 1st, 2000)
PS The 'Beaufoy Verses' were written in 1902 by Commander Mark Hanbury Beaufoy for his eldest son, Henry Mark. Click here for more information.
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