Beau Brummell
English man of fashion (1778–1840)
George Bryan "Beau" Brummell (7 June 1778 – 30 March 1840) was an English socialite who influenced British men's fashion during the Regency era. He was a close friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, but after the two quarrelled and Brummell got into debt, he had to take refuge in France. Eventually, he died from complications of neurosyphilis in Caen.
Brummell was remembered afterwards as the preeminent example of the dandy, and a whole literature was founded upon his manner and witty sayings, which have persisted until today. His name is still associated with style and good looks and has been given to a variety of modern products to suggest their high quality.
Life
Brummell was born in Downing Street, London, the younger son of William Brummell (d. 1795), Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Lord North, and Mary (née Richardson, daughter of the Keeper of the Lottery Office). North rated William Brummell highly, procuring for him appointments including those he held at the time of his death, namely Receiver of the Duties on Uninhabited Houses in London and Middlesex, Comptroller of the Hawkers' and Pedlars' Office, and Agent and Paymaster to the out-pensioners of Chelsea Hospital; these gave William about £2,500 per annum. On his retirement from politics, William had bought Donnington Grove in Berkshire and served as High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1788. William was the son of another William Brummell (d.
The public source identifies “Beau Brummell” as english man of fashion (1778–1840). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beau, Brummell and English.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q561019. VIAF identifies the subject as 74649992. The Library of Congress control number is n50040823. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1778, 1840, 1795 and 1788.
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This entry incorporates text from “Beau Brummell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.