The statue of Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, who served as Chaplian to the Order of the Garter at St. George's Chapel in Windsor castle is located on the south side of St George's Chapel. His statue looks to be larger than life size, maybe 1.5-2x times life size. Since it is so far off the ground, it is hard to tell how large the statues are.
Bishop Beauchamp wears a medieval-era chaplain's cap, perhaps like the one he might have worn when he served as Chaplain and First Chancellor to the Order of the Garter. He is wearing cleric's robes, and holds a model of the chapel in his left hand. His right hand is extended close to the model, as if giving a blessing to the chapel and to those who worship within.
From the College of St George Chapel Archives website: (
visit link)
"Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury
Richard Beauchamp was a younger son of Sir Walter de Beauchamp, a distinguished soldier and lawyer, and Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Roche.
He was Archdeacon of Suffolk in 1448 and installed as Bishop of Hereford in 1449 finally being translated by papal Bull in 1450 to the See of Salisbury.
From 1452 he appears to have acted upon occasions as Chaplain to the Order of the Garter and in 1475 was appointed by Edward IV as the first Chancellor of the Order with official lodgings in the precincts of Windsor Castle. Beauchamp was made Master and Surveyor of ‘works to be newly constructed’, and by October 1475 work had begun and careful accounts for years 1477-9 kept by the Bishop on the building of the new Chapel for the Order of the Garter. He was installed as Dean of Windsor in March 1478 and obtained a Bull from Sixtus IV authorising the removal of the body of John Schorn, Rector of Great Marsden, to the new Chapel.
The arms of Bishop Beauchamp can be seen below a recess in the south wall of the south aisle, together with the arms of Beauchamp of Warwick and Beauchamp of Holt. The wood carving in the quire of St George’s Chapel also contains the arms and badge, a snail, of Richard Beauchamp. The snail appears on numerous misericords and also desk fronts with mitres and Garter motto.
Opposite the recess in the south aisle is an inscription which refers to Bishop Beauchamp and prayers to be said next to the Holy Cross, represented by the Cross Gneth overhead. The carved stone ceiling boss at the eastern end of the south aisle, King Edward IV and the Bishop are kneeling on either side of a Cross. This represents the Cross Gneth which was believed to contain a fragment of the true Cross.
Richard Beauchamp was Bishop of Salisbury for over 30 years and is buried in Salisbury Cathedral. He was succeeded by Lionel Woodville, brother of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of Edward IV.
Enid Davies, Assistant Archivist"
Additional documentation comes an email I received from an archivist at St George's Chapel Archives:
"Dear Laura (if I may),
Thank you for contacting us with your enquiry. I have found information about these statues in an old guide book which is no longer in print. It seems that it is not mentioned in any of the Chapel's current guide books, though I do not know why.
From 'St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle: a pocket companion' by Major General R.L.C. Dixon: Erected 1882-83 in Ancaster stone, designed and made Messrs. Farmer and Brindley, 67 Westminster Bridge Road, London, paid for by Knights of the Garter. From east to west: Henry III, Edward III, Henry VI, Edward IV, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Charles I, George III, Bishop Beauchamp (with model of Chapel in left hand), Sir Reginald Bray, Dean Urswick. . . .
Kate McQuillian
Assistant Archivist"