said (Nichols, Anecdotes, ii. 392) to have translated for him Fleury's 'Short History of the Israelites,' published in Farneworth's name, in order to raise a few pounds for his friend when in pecuniary distress. Bedford lived at Compton till his death in February 1773.
[Nichols's Anecdotes; i. 169, ii. 392, vii. 698; Gough's British Topography (under Durham); Cole's Athenæ; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
BEDFORD, WILLIAM (1764?–1827),
admiral, was made a lieutenant in the navy
on 12 Sept. 1781. Of his earlier appointments there is no published record; but he
served during the Russian armament of 1791 as
a lieutenant of the Edgar. He was afterwards
in the Formidable, and in May 1794 was
first-lieutenant of the Queen, carrying the
flag of Rear-admiral Gardner. In the partial action of 29 May the captain of the
Queen was severely wounded. Bedford
had thus the honour of commanding the
Queen on 1 June, and for his service on
that memorable day was, on the captain's
death some weeks afterwards, posted into
the vacancy (15 Aug. 1794). He continued
in the Queen with Sir Alan Gardner, and
was present in Lord Bridport's action off
Lorient on 23 June 1795. Afterwards he
moved with Sir Alan to the Royal Sovereign,
and continued with him till he struck his
flag in August 1800. Bedford was then
appointed to the Leyden, of 68 guns, in the
North Sea, and was present at the attack on
the invasion flotilla, 15 Aug. 1801, on which
occasion he offered to serve as a volunteer
under the junior officer in command of the
boats. The offer, however, was declined by
Lord Nelson (Nelson Despatches, iv. 467).
In 1803 he was captain of the Thunderer,
74 guns, and in 1805, in the Hibernia, flagship of his old chief, now. Lord Gardner,
commanding the blockade of Brest. Afterwards, in 1809, he was flag-captain in the
Caledonia with Lord Gambier, in the expedition to Basque Roads, from which, though he escaped blameless, it was impossible to derive any credit. He attained flag-rank on
12 Aug. 1812, and served in the North
Sea under Sir William Young as captain of
the fleet. He had no further service, though
on 19 July 1821 he was promoted to the rank
of vice-admiral. He died in October 1827.
In 1808 Bedford married Susan, one of the nine daughters of Captain Robert Fanshawe, commissioner of the navy at Portsmouth, and was thus a brother-in-law of Sir Thomas Byam Martin, comptroller of the navy, and of Admiral Sir Robert Stopford.
[Marshall's Royal Nav. Biog. ii. (vol. i.), 574; Gent. Mag. xcvii. ii. 465.]
BEDINGFELD, THOMAS (1760–1789),
poet, second son of Edward Bedingfeld, Esq.,
of York, and Mary, daughter of Sir John
Swinburne, of Capheaton, Northumberland,
was born at York on 18 Feb. 1760, and educated at the university of Liége. In 1780
he was placed in the office of Mr. John
Davidson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with a
view to the study of conveyancing. There he
became acquainted with George Pickering and
James Ellis, who, together with Mr. Davidson's sons, formed a literary fraternity not
very common in a lawyer's office. In 1784
Bedingfeld removed to Lincoln's Inn, and
continued his legal studies under Matthew
Duane, the eminent conveyancer, and his
nephew, Mr. Bray. In 1787 he commenced
practice as a chamber counsel–being, as a
catholic, incapable of being called to the
bar–and he was rising rapidly in his profession when his career was terminated by
his death, which occurred in London on
5 Nov. 1789. In person he is said to have
resembled his celebrated contemporary, William Pitt, so much as sometimes to have
been mistaken for him by the London populace.
His poems were surreptitiously published in London–'Poems by T. B–––g––––d, Esq., of the Inner Temple,' 1800. Afterwards they were collected lay James Ellis, one of his youthful associates, and published under the title of 'Poetry, Fugitive and Original; by the late Thomas Bedingfeld, Esq., and Mr. George Pickering. With notes and some additional pieces by a Friend,' Newcastle, 1815, 8vo. Dedicated to Sir Walter Scott. The most laboured of his poems is 'The Triumph of Beauty,' addressed to the Duchess of Devonshire on her successful canvass for Charles James Fox in 1784; but his best-known piece is the 'Instructions to a Porter,' which has appeared in several collections.
[Memoir by James Ellis, 1815; Richardson's Local Historian's Table Book, Historical Division, ii. 327, iii. 331; Gent. Mag. lix. 1058, 1127; European Mag. xvi. 392.]
BEDINGFIELD or BENIFIELD, Sir
HENRY (1509?–1583), of Oxborough, in
Norfolk, supporter of Queen Mary, was born
about 1509. He was the son of Sir Edmund
Benifield, likewise of Oxborough, who was
knighted by Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk,
on the fall of Montdidier in 1523 (Holinshed,
ii. 830), and was later appointed steward, or
rather gaoler, of Lady Katharine of Arragon
