29 Dec. 1517; prebend of South Scarle, Linc., 13 Nov. 1518; Bocking rectory, Essex, 1522; rectory of St. Dionis Backchurch, London, 12 March 1527; prebend of Milton Ecclesia, Linc., 1 Dec. 1529; Hadley church, in deanery of Bocking, 15 May 1531; Wrotham church, Kent, 12 April 1532; archdeaconry of Cleveland, June–Aug. 1533; archdeaconry of London, 5 Aug. 1533 to 19 Dec. 1534; prebend of Mapesbury, London, 17 Dec. to 22 Dec. 1534; rectory of Allhallows-the-Great, 30 Dec. 1534; archdeaconry of Cornwall, 2 March 1535; prebend of Masham, York, 1536; prebend of Lytton, Wells; rectory of Bishopsbourne, Kent; prebend of Appledram and Hampstead, Chichester. The dates of institution to these last are not known, but Bedyll held them in 1535.
[Wood's Fasti Oxon. i. 25; Newcourt's Repertorium; Le Neve's Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ; Erasmi Ep. xv. 7, xix. 46; Calendar of State Papers of Henry VIII, vols. iv.–vii.; Strype's Eccl. Mem. i. 299, ii. 213; Memorials of Cranmer, 87; Wright's Suppression of the Monasteries; Valor Ecclesiasticus, vols. iii. and iv.; Cott. MSS., Otho, c. x., Cleop. E. iv. vi., Brit. Mus.]
BEE, ST. [See Begha.]
BEEARD, BEARD, or BERDE, RICHARD (fl. 1553–1574), author, was admitted to the rectory of St. Mary Hill, London, 31 May 1560, and was deprived of the living in 1574. He was the author of:
- 'A Godly Psalm of Mary Queen,' with psalm tunes in four parts, 1553.
- 'Alphabetum primum Beeardi,' a poem of fifty-six short lines printed as a broadside, without date, by William Copland.
- An untitled piece of verse of forty-four lines, signed by Beeard, beginning 'M. Harry Whobals man to M. Camel greetes,' printed on a sheet without place, printer's name, or date.
A copy of the first is in Trinity College Library, Cambridge, and copies of the last two are in the library of the Society of Antiquaries. In Strype's 'Annals,' iv. 512-516, the dedication to Queen Elizabeth of a manuscript work by Richard Beard 'concerning the doctrine of justification' is printed at length.
[Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 451; Hazlitt's Handbook to Literature, p. 34; Ritson's Bibliographia Poetica, 129; Lemon's Catal. of Broadsides, 10-11.]
BEECHAM, JOHN, D.D. (1787–1856), was born at Barnoldby-le-Beck, near Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in 1787. His father died at Waltham while he was a child. He was educated privately under a clergyman, the incumbent of the neighbouring parish of Irby. His friends desired him to become a clergyman in the established church. Young Beecham, however, preferred to join the methodists. After a short period of preparation he became, in 1815, an itinerant preacher in the Wesleyan community, and soon reached a position of influence. He showed a thorough mastery of the principles of Wesleyan methodism in his 'Essay on the Constitution of Wesleyan Methodism,' and in his writings and speeches on the work of missions. He was appointed in 1831 to the office of general secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and displayed great ability in administering its affairs at the mission house, in counselling its agents all over the world, and in advocating its claims. In 1850 he was elected to the presidency of the Wesleyan conference, and fulfilled the duties of that onerous position in a time of great anxiety and trouble with dignity and grace. Dr. Beecham's later years were largely occupied in the formation of new methodist conferences in North America and in Australia. His wife died in 1853. Their family consisted of one son and two daughters. He died in London 22 April 1856, aged 68.
The following are his principal literary works:
- 'An Essay on the Constitution of Wesleyan Methodism,' 3rd edition, London, 1851.
- 'Ashantee and the Gold Coast; a Sketch of the History of those Countries,' London, 1841.
- 'Colonisation,' London, 1838.
[Minutes of the Methodist Conferences, vol. xiii.; Memoir in Wesleyan Methodist Magazine for 1856; Osborn's Bibliography.]
BEECHEY, FREDERICK WILLIAM (1796–1856), rear-admiral and geographer, son of Sir William Beechey, R.A. [q. v.], was born on 17 Feb. 1796, and entered the navy in July 1806 under the direct patronage of Lord St. Vincent, and afterwards of Sir Sidney Smith. During the years of his early service in the Channel, on the coast of Portugal and on the East India station, the naval war had almost burnt itself out; and the only occasion in which he was actually engaged with the enemy was when, as midshipman of the Astræa under Captain Schomberg, he was present at the capture of the Clorinde and Néréide on the coast of Madagascar, 20-25 May 1811. In 1814 he was appointed to the Tonnant, of 80 guns, which carried the flag of Sir Alexander Cochrane, the commander-in-chief in North America, and had a part in the boat operation, 8 Jan. 1815, on the Lower Mississippi. For this service he was promoted to be lieutenant on 10 March
