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Richard " Beau" Nash (18 October 1674 – 3 February 1762) was a Welsh lawyer who as a dandy, played a leading role in 18th-century British fashion. He is best remembered as the master of ceremonies at the spa town of Bath, Somerset.
After attending Queen Elizabeth Grammar School at Carmarthen, he went up to Jesus College, Oxford, leaving without a degree. His father then bought him an officer's commission in the British Army, but he found the demands on his time too great, and instead opted to become a barrister, for which profession he had originally been intended. He entered as a student of the Middle Temple in 1693, where he was known for "good manners... his taste in dress, and... leading so gay a life" without any obvious source of wealth that his friends suspected him to be a highwayman. He was selected from amongst the students there to take charge of the Middle Temple's long-customary pageant for a new king, exhibited before King William III in 1695. His success led to the offer of knighthood, which he declined on the grounds of his lack of fortune. It was said that he was later again offered a knighthood, by Queen Anne, but again refused the honour.
In 1704, Nash became Master of Ceremonies at the rising spa town of Bath, a position he retained until he died. 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, including regulating gambling. He managed and paid the musicians at the balls, giving him control of the events; he matched ladies with dancing partners at them, and even brokered marriages. He met new arrivals to Bath and judged whether they were suitable to join the select "Company', of 500 to 600 people who had pre-booked tables, escorted unaccompanied wives, and restrained compulsive gamblers and warned players against risky games or . 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.
The Corporation of the city funded an elaborate funeral for Nash, and he was buried in the nave of Bath Abbey, not far from where a memorial was raised to him in 1790.notice of his funeral, Oxford Journal 21 Feb 1761, Burial notice, Bath Abbey parish registers 1761, position of grave from Guide to Bath 1813, and Notes for visitors to Bath Abbey by George Ford, 1982
Nash was a notorious gambler who was forced to move in with his mistress, Juliana Popjoy, because of his debts. Upon their separation, Popjoy was so distraught that she spent the majority of her remaining days living in a large hollowed-out tree. Shortly before her death, she moved out of the tree and back to her birth home, where she died.
His death 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.
Facing Wesley, Nash questioned his authority, comparing the gathering to a conventicle, which was banned by Act of Parliament. Wesley answered that he had the authority of Jesus Christ and the Archbishop of Canterbury and that the gathering was not Sedition and therefore did not contravene the Act. Nash complained that Wesley was scaring people out of their wits, but then admitted that he had never actually heard Wesley preach and was just relying on "common report". Wesley rejected this argument, stating that he did not judge Nash "by common report... it is not enough to judge by." When Nash asked why people were coming to the meeting at all, an old woman in the crowd asked Wesley to allow her to answer. She then told Nash that, while he took care of his body, she and others were present in order to take care of their souls. Nash left. Journal of John Wesley at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website Wesley wrote that, after his departure, "We immediately began praying for him, and then for all the despisers. As we returned, they hollowed and hissed us along the streets; but when any of them asked, 'Which is he' and I answered, 'I am he,' they were immediately silent." The Letters of John Wesley, 1739, at the Wesley Center Online
Nash's life and death are major plot elements in the 2017 detective novel Beau Death by Peter Lovesey. The book includes a fictitious Beau Nash Society consisting of prominent citizens of Bath.
A grandson is portrayed in the comedic historical novel Belle Nash and the Bath Soufflé by William Keeling.Broadsheet Books (2022)
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