MacDonald Beaumont

Apart from being an Olympic figure skater, MacDonald Beaumont was an authority on aviation law, an Army major, and a well respected philatelist. He qualified as a solicitor in 1910, and following the outbreak of World War I joined the Royal Army Service Corps and served in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine. He was mentioned in dispatches three times, and won the DSO in 1918. After the War, Beaumont obtained his pilot’s licence, and later served on the committee of several aviation organisations, including the International Air Transport Association, for nearly 20 years, the London Aero Club, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Interested in ice skating from an early age, he joined the National Skating Association in 1908, and spent a lot of time skating, and bobsleighing, in St. Moritz before the War, and in 1914 finished second in the International Championship, held at the Swiss resort. A few months later Beaumont finished fourth in the Figure Skating Championship of Great Britain at Prince’s. In 1920, Beaumont took part in the singles and pairs (with his wife Madeleine) at the Antwerpen Olympics. Beaumont was runner-up in the British Championship in 1921, and with his wife, won the British pairs title in both 1921 and 1922. He served both the NSA and International Skating Union and was president of the NSA from 1956. He served both organisations as a figure skating judge, and officiated at European and World Championships, and also the 1948 Winter Olympics. Beaumont was also a keen curler, regularly playing lead for St. Moritz.

A keen stamp collector much of his life, Beaumont was president of the Royal Philatelic Society from 1953-56. He was also a Freeman of the City of London, and in 1949 was honoured with a CBE.