Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Beckford, William (d.1799)

by Alfred Goodwin

BECKFORD, WILLIAM (d. 1799), historian, passed a great part of his life in Jamaica, where he made observations on the country and particularly on the condition of the negroes. On returning to England he settled at Somerley Hall in Suffolk, and died in London on 5 Feb. 1799.

His works are:

1. 'Remarks on the Situation of the Negroes in Jamaica, impartially made from a local experience of nearly thirteen years in that island,' 1788.
2. 'A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica, with Remarks upon the Cultivation of the Sugar Cane throughout the different seasons of the year, and chiefly considered in a picturesque point of view,' 1790.
3. 'History of France from the most early records to the death of Louis XVI,' 1794. The early part is by Beckford, and the more modern by an anonymous Englishman who had been sometime resident in Paris.

[Gent. Mag. vol. lxix. pt. i.; Monthly Review, lxxix. 69; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]

A. G-n.