BEHRENS, Louis. b. Hamburg 1801; joined his brother Jacob in business as merchants at Bradford 1836; founded a business in Manchester 1840; established it as a separate concern 1870. d. Southport 1 June 1884.
BEKE, Charles Tilstone (son of James Beck, of Hackney, London, commissioner of sewers). b. Stepney, London 10 Oct. 1800; student at Lincoln’s Inn; changed spelling of his name from Beck to Beke 1834; acting consul at Leipzig 1837–38; Ph. Doc. Univ. of Tubingen 6 Aug. 1837; travelled in Abyssinia 1840–43 and 1865–66; received gold medals of Royal Geographical Societies of London and Paris 1845 and 1846; sec. to National Association for protection of industry and capital throughout British empire 1849–53, when association was dissolved; granted a civil list pension of £100 14 Dec. 1870; went to Palestine to determine position of Mount Sinai Dec. 1873; F.S.A. 1835; author of Origines Biblicæ 1834; The sources of the Nile 1860; The British captives in Abyssinia 1865; The idol in Horeb 1871 and other books. d. Bromley, Kent 31 July 1874. Summary of the late Dr. Beke’s published works and of his inadequately requited public services By his widow 1876; Dictionary of national biography iv, 138–41 (1885); I.L.N. lxv, 140 (1874), portrait; Graphic x, 174 (1874), portrait.
BELCHER, Sir Edward (2 son of Andrew Belcher, of Clarence lodge, Roehampton, Surrey). b. Nova Scotia 1799; entered navy 9 April 1812; one of original fellows of Royal Geog. Soc. 1830; sailed round the world in H.M.S. Sulphur 1836–42; captain 6 May 1841; engaged surveying in East Indies 1842–47; C.B. 14 Oct. 1841, K.C.B. 13 March 1867; knighted by patent for his services in China 21 Jany. 1843; granted pension for wounds 13 March 1847; commanded expedition in search of Sir John Franklin 10 Feb. 1852 to Oct. 1854; admiral 20 Oct. 1872; F.R.A.S. Dec. 1837; claimed to be the inventor of water-tight bulkheads and compartments; granted a Greenwich hospital pension of £150 per annum 7 Dec. 1874; author of A treatise on nautical surveying 1835; Narrative of a voyage round the world 2 vols. 1843; Narrative of the voyage of H.M.S. Samarang 2 vols. 1848; Horatio Howard Brenton a naval novel 3 vols. 1856; The last of the Arctic voyages 2 vols. 1855. (m. 11 Sep. 1830 Diana dau. of George Jolliffe, captain H.E.I.C.S.) d. 6 Melcombe place, Dorset sq. London 18 March 1877. Army and Navy mag. iv, 1–5 (1882), portrait; I.L.N. xxi, 321 (1852), portrait, lxx, 299 (1878), portrait; Journal of Royal Geog. Soc. xlvii, 136–42 (1877); Monthly notices of Royal Astron. Soc. xxxviii, 141–43 (1878); Transactions of Instit. of naval architects xi, 12–19, 197–211 (1870).
BELCHER, Rev. Joseph. b. Birmingham 5 April 1794; Baptist divine; went to United States 1844; author of Pastoral recollections 1837; The clergy of America 1849; George Whitfield, a biography 1860; said to have written more religious works than any other author of the century. d. Philadelphia 10 July 1859.
BELCHER, Thomas. b. St. James’s churchyard Bristol 14 April 1783; went to London 1803; fought and beat Jack Ware in Tothill Fields, Westminster 26 June 1804; beaten by Wm. Ryan at Willesden Green 30 Nov. 1804, but beat him near Chertsey 4 June 1805; beat Jack O’Donnell at Shepperton 27 April 1805; fought Dutch Sam (Elias Samuels) for 100 guineas at Moulsey Hurst 8 Feb. 1806, when beaten; fought him again 20 July 1807, when fight was declared drawn; beaten by him 21 Aug. 1807; beat Dogherty 14 April 1808, Cropley 25 Oct. 1808, Farnborough 1 Feb. 1809, Silverthorne 6 June 1811; fought Dogherty again for 100 guineas on the Curragh of Kildare 23 April 1813, when he won again; landlord of the Castle Tavern Holborn 1814–28; one of the 18 pugilists selected by Jackson to act with him as pages at coronation of George IV. in Westminster Abbey 19 July 1821, one gold coronation medal was given to the boxers which they raffled for, when Belcher won it and held the trophy until his death. d. Peckham, d. of apoplexy at 19 Trafalgar sq. Peckham, Surrey 9 Dec. 1854. Pugilistica by H. D. Miles i, 153–66 (1880), portrait; The Fancy by An Operator i, 297–300 (1826), portrait; Every night book (1827) 37–44; Boxiana by P. Egan ii, 28–45 (1818).
BELDAM, Joseph (3 son of Wm. Beldam of Royston, Herts who d. 20 June 1827 aged 64). b. 26 Dec. 1795; ed. at St Peter’s coll. Cam.; barrister M.T. 12 May 1825; standing counsel for Anti slavery party; F.S.A. 1 May 1856; author of Il pastore incantato, a drama; Pompeii and other poems by a student of the Middle Temple 1823; A summary of the laws peculiarly affecting Protestant dissenters 1827; Recollections of scenes and institutions in Italy and the East 2 vols. 1851. d. Royston 6 June 1866.
BELDHAM, William. b. Wrecclesham near Farnham, Surrey 5 Feb. 1766; professional cricketer; the “crack” batsman of England many years, excelled also in bowling, fielding, wicket keeping and single wicket playing; played in the Gentlemen versus Players match 1787 to 1821; the last surviving member of the once far famed Hambledon cricket club; had 39 children, 28 by his first wife, all of whom died young leaving no issue. d. Tilford near Farnham 20 Feb. 1862. Nyren’s Cricketer’s Tutor (1833) 93–96.
BELFORD, William Rowles. b. Easton near Bristol Dec. 1824; made his début in London at Sadler’s Wells theatre 22 Dec. 1851 as Sir Charles Cropland in The poor Gentleman; played prominent parts in 32 Shakespearian revivals at same house 1852–63; acted with S. Phelps in Germany 1859; played at Strand theatre about 1863–69; created leading role in W.S. Gilbert’s comedy Randall’s Thumb at Court theatre 25 Jany. 1871; played Henry the 8th in the provinces 1876; last appeared on the stage at Imperial theatre London April 1879 in comic drama of A rough diamond; acted at nearly every west-end theatre in London; sum of £1,100 was raised for him Dec. 1879. d. 43 Grand parade, Brighton 3 June 1881. Pascoe’s Dramatic list (1880) 42.
BELFOUR, Edmund. Secretary of Royal college of surgeons 1814 to death, d. 37 Lincoln’s Inn Fields 30 Jany. 1865 in 76 year.
BELHAVEN and STENTON, Robert Montgomery Hamilton, 8 Baron (eld. child of Wm. Hamilton, 7 Baron Belhaven and Stenton 1765–1814.) b. Wishaw house, Lanarkshire 1793; succeeded 29 Oct. 1814; created Baron Hamilton of Wishaw in peerage of U.K. 10 Sep. 1831; lord high comr. to general assembly of Church of Scotland 1831–41, 1847–51, 1853–57 and 1860–66; lieut. col. commandant 1 Lanarkshire militia 21 Nov. 1833 to death; lord lieut. of Lanarkshire 10 Aug. 1863 to death. d. Wishaw house 22 Dec. 1868.