BEACONSFIELD

beaconsfield, a town in the wycombe parliamentary division of buckinghamshire, england. 23 m. w. by n. of london, on the main road to oxford, and on the great central & great western joint railway. pop. of urban district (1901) 1570. it lies in a hilly well-wooded district above the valley of the small river wye, a tributary of the thames. the broad oxford road forms its picturesque main street. it was formerly a posting station of importance, and had a considerable manufacture of ribbons. the perpendicular church of st mary and all saints is the burial place of edmund burke (d. 1797), who lived at gregories, or as he named it butler's court, near the town. he would have taken his title from beaconsfield had he survived to enter the peerage. a monument to his memory was erected in 1898. edmund waller the poet owned the property of hall barn, and died here in 1687. his tomb is in the churchyard. benjamin disraeli chose the title of earl of beaconsfield in 1876, his wife having in 1868 received the title of viscountess beaconsfield. the opening of railway communication with london in 1906 resulted in a considerable accretion of residential population.