Harold Beauchamp (1858—1938) was New Zealand banker.[1]
Born in Ararat, Victoria, Australia to 15 November 1858 Arthur Beauchamp and Mary Elizabeth Stanley, the family moved to Nelson in 1961 and then Picton. Arthor ran in the 1866 election for the Picton electorate but resigned in 1861, sold up and moved to isolated Beatrix Bay in Pelorus Sound.
After they moved to Whanganui in 1969, Harold attended Wanganui Collegiate School and left at 14 to work for his father's general merchant and auctioneering business. He moved to Wellington and started to do well in business. He married Annie Burnell Dyer, daughter of Margaret Isabella Mansfield and the late Joseph Dyer; his mother and law moved in with him and they move to larger houses as his business improved. He became a partner in 1889 and a member of the Wellington Harbour Board in 1895. A personal friend of Richard Seddon, in 1898 he was appointed to the board of the Bank of New Zealand, rising to chairman and remaining on the board until 1936.[2]
As a member of the 1901 Royal Commission on Federation he advised against New Zealand joining the Australian federation.[3] Between 1903 and 1906 Harold's three daughters attended Queen's College, London; when he returned to London to collect them, he attended the Sixth Congress of Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire and was received by King Edward VII.
After their return, Harold's personal life took several turns for the worse. His father Author died in Nelson in 1910.[4] His son Leslie was killed in the war in October 1915. His mother Mary died in 1917.[5] His wife Annie's health deteriorated and she died on 8 August 1918. He became estranged from his daughter Kathleen, who returned to Europe to find fame as Katherine Mansfield, but whose writings did not paint him in an overly favorable light.
In his later years, he traveled frequently between London and Wellington and his reports of the trading outlook for New Zealand's primary exports widely reported.[6]
He died in Wellington, on 5 October 1938.[7] He left substantial gifts to the National Art Gallery.[8]
Harold's brother Harry Lomax Beauchamp farmed at Ōtaki for many years, dying in 1939.[9]