Frederic Boase
Modern English Biography (volume 1 of 4) A-H
BELOE, Charles (2 son of Rev. Wm. Beloe 1756–1817, Prebendary of St. Paul’s). A clerk in the London Twopenny post office; sec. to the Alfred club. d. Reading 23 Oct. 1855 aged 69.
BELPER, Edward Strutt, 1 Baron (only son of Wm. Strutt of St. Helen’s house Derby, manufacturer 1756–1830). b. Derby 26 Oct. 1801; ed. at Trin. coll. Cam.; B.A. 1823, M.A. 1826, L.L.D. 1862; M.P. for Derby 1830–1848 when unseated for bribery; M.P. for Arundel 1851–1852 and for Nottingham 1852–1856; chief comr. of railways 29 Aug. 1846 to March 1848; P.C. 30 Oct. 1846; sheriff of Notts. 1850; chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster 30 Dec. 1852 to 21 June 1854; chairman of Notts. quarter sessions 1855; created Baron Belper of Belper, county Derby 29 Aug. 1856; lord lieutenant of Notts. 6 Dec. 1864; pres. of Univ. coll. London 29 July 1871. d. 75 Eaton square, London 30 June 1880.
BELSHES, John Murray. Captain 59 Foot 4 Sep 1812 to 25 May 1816 when placed on h.p.; L.G. 12 Nov. 1862. d. Inverary 12 Jany. 1863. P.R. Drummond’s Perthshire in bygone days (1879) 81–85.
BELSON, George John. Second lieutenant R.A. 29 Sep. 1804; lieut. col. 23 Nov. 1841 to 7 April 1842 when he retired on full pay; L.G. 27 Feb. 1866. d. Woolwich 22 April 1868 aged 80.
BELT, Thomas (son of Mr. Belt of Newcastle, seedsman). b. Newcastle 1832; member of Natural history society of Northumberland June 1850; went to Australia 1852; a mining engineer in London 1860; travelled all over Asia and America; superintendent of Nova Scotian gold company’s mines in Nova Scotia 1863–65; examined the quartz rocks of North Wales; superintendent of the Chontales Gold mining company in Nicaragua 1868–72; travelled in Russia 1873–76; F.G.S.; author of Mineral veins, an enquiry into their origin 1861; The naturalist in Nicaragua 1874; The glacial period in North America. d. Denver, Colorado 21 Sep. 1878 in 46 year. Natural history transactions of Northumberland vii, 235–40 (1880).
BELZONI, Sarah. Remarkable for her size and strength; married in London about 1804 Giovanni Baptista Belzoni, acrobat, engineer and traveller who was b. Padua 1778 and d. at Gato, Benin, Africa 3 Dec. 1823; performed feats of strength with her husband in the streets, at fairs and at Astley’s Amphitheatre; travelled in Egypt with him 1815–19; granted civil list pension of £100 6 Feb. 1851; author of Account of the women of Egypt, Nubia and Syria. d. Belozanne valley, Jersey 12 Jany. 1870 aged 87.
BENBEY, Sadi Ombark. Came to England with Mungo Park whom he taught Arabic language. d. 11 Feb. 1854 aged more than 80.
BENBOW, John. Solicitor in London; M.P. for Dudley 8 Aug. 1844 to death. d. Hastings 24 Feb. 1855 aged 86.
BENDIGO, cognomen of William Thompson (son of Mr. Thompson of Nottingham, cabinet maker). b. Nottingham 11 Oct. 1811, being one of 3 children at a birth; fought and beat Ben. Caunt 1 July 1835; beat Brassey (John Leechman) 24 May 1836; beat young Langan 24 Jany. 1837; beat Looney 13 June 1837; beaten by Ben. Caunt 3 April 1838; beat Deaf Burke at Heather, Leicestershire 12 Feb. 1839 in presence of 15000 persons; presented with a “Champion’s belt” by James Ward at Queen’s theatre, Liverpool; beat Ben. Caunt near Sutfield Green Oxon, 9 Sep. 1845 when they fought for £200 a side and the championship; fought Tom Paddock for £200 a side at Mildenhall 5 June 1850 when he won again; a preacher and leader of revivalist services at the Cabmen’s Mission hall, King’s Cross, London. d. Beeston, Notts. 23 Aug. 1880. H. D. Miles’s Pugilistica iii, 1–46 (1880), portrait; J. Greenwoods Low life deeps (1876) 86–94, portrait; Rev. C. M. Davies’s Unorthodox London 2 series 156–64.
Note.—His curious name Bendigo was a contraction of Abednego, his first challenge in Bell’s Life in London in 1835 is signed Abednego of Nottingham; the town of Bendigo in Victoria, Australia (since called Sandhurst) was named after him.
BENEDICT, Sir Julius (2 son of M. Benedict of Stuttgart, banker). b. Stuttgart 27 Nov. or 24 Dec. 1804; pupil of Hummel at Weimar and of Weber at Dresden; conductor at the Kärnthnerthor theatre Vienna 1823–25 and at the San Carlo and Fondo theatres Naples 1825–35; went to London 1835; conducted a series of Italian comic operas at Lyceum theatre 1836; conductor of English opera at Drury Lane 1838, where he produced The gipsy’s warning 19 April 1838; The brides of Venice 22 April 1844, and The Crusaders 1846; travelled with Jenny Lind in the United States and Havannah and directed all her 122 concerts 1850–52; formed a choral society called The vocal association; conductor of Italian opera at Drury Lane and Her Majesty’s theatres 1859–60; conducted the Norwich Musical Festivals 1845–78 where he produced Undine 1860, Richard Cœur de Lion 1863 and St. Cecilia 1866; conducted the Monday Popular Concerts; his best known opera The Lily of Killarney was produced at Covent Garden 8 Feb. 1862; conductor of Liverpool Philharmonic society 9 April 1867 to Feb. 1879; wrote for Birmingham musical festivals St. Peter 1870 and Graziella 1873; knighted at Windsor Castle 24 March 1871. d. 2 Manchester sq. London 5 June 1885. I.L.N. lviii, 377 (1871), portrait, lxvi, 494 (1875), portrait; Scribner’s Monthly xiii, 480–84 (1877); Graphic xxix, 184 (1884), portrait.
BENETT, John (2 son of Thomas Benett of Pyt house Tisbury, Wilts. who d. 16 May 1797 aged 68). b. 20 May 1773; sheriff of Wilts. 1798; M.P. for Wilts. 19 July 1819 to 3 Dec. 1832 and for South Wilts. 17 Dec. 1832 to 1 July 1852; author of some essays on agricultural subjects. d. Pyt house 1 Oct. 1852. G.M. xxxviii, 636–37 (1852).
BENHAM, James Erle. Ed. at St. Mary hall Ox.; student Middle Temple 20 Nov. 1875; author of The student’s guide to the preliminary examination for attorneys and solicitors 1868; edited The preliminary examination Journal 1871. d. Abercorn house, Baron’s court, Kensington, London 11 July 1885 aged 34.
BENHAM, William. Author of English ballads for school reading 1862; St. Matthew, authorised version 1862; Epistles for the Christian year, with notes 1864; Companion to the Lectionary 1873. d. 14 Arley hill, Bristol 16 Sep. 1885 aged 69.
BENIOWSKI, Bartholomew. Educ. at Ecole d’etat major of Paris 1832–33; major in Polish army; attempted to revolutionise art of printing by use of short words cast into one such as, and, but, the; teacher of memory at the Royal Adelaide gallery, Strand, London 1842; took out patents for machinery for printing and composing type 1846, 47 and 49; author of Phrenotypics 1842; A French vocabulary 1843; The Anti-absurd or phrenotypic alphabet and orthography 1844. d. 8 Bow st. Covent Garden 29 March 1867 aged 66.
BENISCH, Abraham. b. Drosan, Bohemia 1811; ed. at Univ. of Vienna; settled in England 1841; edited the Jewish Chronicle 1854 to death; one of chief founders of Society of Hebrew Literature 1870, and of the Anglo Jewish Association 1871; author of A translation of the Old Testament 1851; An essay on Colenso’s criticism of the Pentateuch and Joshua 1863; Judaism surveyed 1874. d. 13 Brownswood park, Green Lanes, London 31 July 1878.
BENJAMIN, George. b. Sussex 15 April 1799; went to Canada; founded the Intelligencer at Belleville 1834, edited it to 1848; member of legislative assembly Canada 1856–61; grand master of the Orangemen of British North America 1848; author of Short lessons for members of Parliament compiled from English and other publications 1862. d. Belleville 6 July or 7 Sep. 1864.
BENJAMIN, Judah Philip. b. St. Croix, West Indies 1811; ed. at Yale college, Connecticut 1825–28; called to the bar in New Orleans 16 Dec. 1832; member of firm of Slidell, Benjamin and Conrad 1840; counsellor of the supreme court New Orleans Dec. 1848; practised chiefly in Washington; a senator for Louisiana to the Senate 1852 to 4 Feb. 1861 when he withdrew, expelled the Senate 14 March 1861; attorney general of the Southern Confederacy Feb. 1861; acting secretary of war Aug. 1861 to Feb. 1862; sec. of state Feb. 1862 to April 1865 when the members of the cabinet left Richmond; a student L.I. 13 Jany. 1866, called to bar at L.I. 6 June 1866, bencher 15 April 1875; Q.C. for county palatine of Lancaster July 1869; Q.C. with patent of precedence 29 July 1872; made £15,000 a year for several years; entertained on his retirement, at a banquet in hall of Inner Temple 30 June 1883; author of Digest of decisions of supreme court of New Orleans 1834; Treatise of the law of sale of personal property 1868, 3 ed. 1883. d. Avenue de Jena, Paris 6 May 1884. J. Davis’s Rise and Fall of the Confederate government i, 242 (1881), portrait; Law Journal (1883) 100–103; I.L.N. lxxx 465 (1884), portrait; Graphic xxix, 484 (1884), portrait.
BENN, Anthony. b. 1814; 2 lieut. R.A. 20 Dec. 1832; col. 27 June 1864 to 6 March 1868; M.G. 6 March 1868. d. Plumstead 22 Dec. 1875.
BENN, Edward (son of John Benn of Belfast, brewer 1767–1853). b. 1798; purchased with his brother George, an estate at Glenravel near Ballymena where they tried to create a new industry by manufacture of potato spirit; formed a fine archæological collection now in the Belfast Museum; contributed papers to Irish antiquarian journals; founded 3 hospitals in Belfast, the Eye Ear and Throat, the Samaritan and the Skin Diseases. d. 1874.
BENN, George (brother of the preceding). b. Tanderagee co. Armagh 1 Jany. 1801; entered Belfast Academical institution 1816; took gold medals in logic 1817 and moral philosophy 1818; author of The history of the town of Belfast [anon.] 1823; A history of the town of Belfast 2 vols. 1877–80. d. 8 Jany. 1882.
BENN, Piercy. b. 1800; 2 lieut. R.A. 3 Feb. 1821; col. 7 June 1856 to 16 July 1862; M.G. 16 July 1862. d. Farringdon, Hants. 17 June 1876.
BENNETT, Charles Fox, formerly of Clifton, Bristol; late premier of Newfoundland. d. St. John’s, Newfoundland 5 Dec. 1883.
BENNETT, Charles Henry. Draughtsman on wood; contributed sketches signed in the corner with the figure of an owl to Diogenes comic weekly paper 1853 and portraits of members of Parliament to Illustrated Times; contributed sketches to Fun down to 1866 and to Punch 1866 to death; published Fables of Æsop and others translated into human nature 1858; Proverbs with pictures 1858; London people sketched from life 1863; Adventures of Young Munchausen 1864. d. Caversham road, Kentish Town 2 April 1867 in 38 year. Punch 13 April 1867 p. 151.
BENNETT, George (2 son of John Bennett, Judge of Irish court of King’s Bench who d. 25 Dec. 1791). b. Cork 20 Sep. 1777; called to Irish bar 1800; went Munster circuit; K.C. 18 Feb. 1822; crown prosecutor for Munster circuit Feb. 1832; bencher of King’s Inns Dublin 1836, retired about 1849. d. Sodylt hall, Shropshire 26 May 1856. Dublin univ. mag. xxxiv, 526–32 (1849), portrait.
BENNETT, George John (son of George Bennett of Norwich, comedian). b. Ripon 9 March 1800; served in the navy 1813–17; first appeared on the stage at Lynn 1818, and in London at Covent Garden 27 Jany. 1823 as Richard iii; acted at Covent Garden 1830–38, at Drury Lane 1841–43 and at Sadler’s Wells 27 May 1844 to 15 March 1862 when he left the stage, his best parts were Bossola in the Duchess of Malfi, and Caliban in The Tempest; author of a five act play called Retribution or love’s trials produced at Sadlers Wells 11 Feb. 1850, and of a drama called The Justice produced at Birmingham. d. Edmonton 21 Sep. 1879. Theatrical times i, 241 (1847), portrait; Tallis’s Drawing room table book, parts 8, 10, 17 and 21, 4 portraits; The Players iv, 17 (1861), portrait.
BENNETT, James. b. Falfield, Thornbury, Gloucs. 10 May 1785; apprenticed to George Robbins of Bath, printer; printer and bookseller in Tewkesbury 1810–52; published History of Tewkesbury 1830; Tewkesbury Register and Magazine 1830–49. d. Tewkesbury 29 Jany. 1856.
BENNETT, Rev. James. b. London 22 May 1774; preached his first sermon 24 Dec. 1792; Congregational minister at Romsey Feb. 1796; ordained 5 April 1797; theological tutor and pastor at Rotherham 22 Aug. 1813; pastor of Silver st. church, London Nov. 1828, and of Falcon sq. church, London 1843 to Nov. 1860; one of foreign secs. to London Missionary society May 1830 to 1832; chairman of Congregational Board 1840; author of Lectures on preaching of Christ 1836; Lectures on Acts of the Apostles 1846; author with Rev. David Bogue of History of dissenters from the Revolution in 1688 to the year 1808 4 vols. 1808, 2 ed. 3 vols. 1833; wrote much in the Eclectic Review and Evangelical Mag. d. 49 Gibson sq. Islington 4 Dec. 1862. Memorials of the late Rev. James Bennett 1863.
BENNETT, James. Member of company of T.R. Birmingham many years; made his début in London at Lyceum theatre 18 March 1859 as Iago in Othello; acted in the provinces. d. London 9 March 1885. Tallis’s Drawing room table book (1851) 41, portrait.
BENNETT, James Gordon. b. New Mill, Keith, Banffshire 1 Sep. 1800; went to Halifax, Nova Scotia 1819; a printer’s reader, bookseller’s clerk and assistant in a newspaper office at Boston; went to New York about 1822; started the New York Globe Oct. 1832 a two cent paper which lived only 30 days; partner with Messrs. Anderson and Smith of New York, printers 1835; founded the New York Herald a one cent daily paper 6 May 1835 all of which he wrote; in 1841 the circulation was 20,000 and the receipts 100,000 dollars, during the civil war its circulation doubled; sent Henry M. Stanley to Central Africa in search of Dr. Livingstone at cost of £10,000 in 1871. (m. 6 June 1840 Henrietta Agnes Crean, she d. 31 March 1873). d. New York 1 June 1872. Memoir of J. G. Bennett by a Journalist 1855, portrait; F. Hudson’s Journalism in the United States 1873; J. Parton’s Famous Americans of recent times (1867) 259–305; Democratic Review xxxi, 409–19 1853, portrait; C. F. Wingate’s Views and interviews (1875) 275–86; Graphic v, 600, 611 (1872), portrait.
BENNETT, John Hughes. b. London 31 Aug. 1812; ed. at Exeter gr. sch. and Univ. of Edin., M.D. 1837, LLD. Aug. 1875; founded in Paris the Parisian Medical Society 1837, pres. 1837; pathologist to Royal infirmary Edin. 1843; discovered a remarkable disease of the blood which he called Leucocythemia or white cell blood 1845; editor of Edinburgh Monthly Journal of medical science 1846; professor of Institutes of medicine in Univ. of Edin. July 1848 to July 1874; F.R.S. Edin. 1842, F.R.C.P. Edin. 1842; author of An introduction to clinical medicine 1849, 4 ed. 1862; The pathology and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis 1853, 2 ed. 1859; Clinical lectures on principles and practice of medicine 1852, 5 ed. 1868 which was translated into French, Russian and Hindoo. d. The Wilderness, Bracondale, Norwich 25 Sep. 1875. bur. Dean cemetery Edin. 30 Sep. Edinburgh Medical Journal xxi, 466–74 (1875); British Medical Journal ii, 473–78 (1875).
BENNETT, John Joseph. b. Tottenham 8 Jany. 1801; ed. at Enfield and at Middlesex hospital; assistant keeper of the Banksian herbarium and library British Museum Nov. 1827, keeper 1828–70; F.L.S. 1828, sec. 1840–60; F.R.S. 16 Dec. 1841; wrote part of T. Horsfield’s Plantæ Javanicæ Rariores 1852–53. d. Maresfield, Sussex 29 Feb. 1876; bust by Weekes in botanical department British Museum. Journal of botany British and Foreign v, 97–105 (1876), portrait.
BENNETT, Samuel. b. Cornwall 20 March 1815; went to Sydney 1841; superintendent of a printing office there 1842–59; purchased with Wm. Hanson the Empire newspaper 1859, conducted it as a daily and weekly paper; started the Evening News 29 July 1867, the Australian town and country journal 8 Jany. 1870; author of The history of Australian discovery and colonisation 1867. d. Mundarrah towers, Little Coogee, Sydney 2 June 1878.
BENNETT, Samuel James. Founder of the Mercantile Association; founded the Commercial Gazette weekly paper 1853. d. The Firs, Staplecross, Sussex 23 May 1881.
BENNETT, Thomas. b. Hereford 22 Feb. 1785; captain R.N. 16 Sep. 1828; commodore on North America and West India station 7 Feb. 1848 to 29 April 1851; granted a service pension 2 Nov. 1863; admiral on h.p. 12 Sep. 1865; mayor of Hereford 1842. d. Broomy hill, Hereford 12 June 1870.
BENNETT, Thomas Randle (youngest son of John Bennett of Manchester, timber merchant). b. Manchester 1821; ed. at the gr. sch. and Ch. Ch. Ox., B.A. 1843, M.A. 1846, special pleader 1848; barrister I.T. 17 Nov. 1855; lectured on law and history at London Working men’s college Bloomsbury; an original member of English Church Union 1859, one of its central council; examiner to the Inns of Court 1877–78; author of A popular manual of the constitutional history of England 1862 and of several political pamphlets. d. Shrewbridge hall, Nantwich 23 Feb. 1885. Law Times lxxviii, 343 (1885).
BENNETT, William. b. Newmarket; enlisted into Cambridge militia 10 Oct. 1797 aged 20; enlisted into 46 Foot 18 March 1799, and into 32 Foot 15 June 1803, discharged 18 Aug. 1814; assisted at burial of Sir John Moore Jany. 1809. d. Inchicore, Ireland 23 Jany. 1872 aged 95, but generally reputed to be 105. W. J. Thoms’s Human longevity (1873) 235–36.
BENNETT, William. b. 1798; made his début in London at Haymarket theatre as Jack Junk in The birthday 15 May 1812; member of English opera company; played old men at Drury Lane about 1829; secretary to Drury Lane theatrical fund. d. Bellevue cottage, Walthamstow 8 Aug. 1875. The Oddfellow i, 77 (1839), portrait.
BENNETT, William. b. 1796; solicitor at Chapel en le Frith, Derbyshire 1819 to death; clerk to county magistrates 1834 to death; author under pseudonym of Lee Gibbons of The Cavalier 3 vols. 1821; Malpas 3 vols. 1822; The King of the Peak 3 vols. 1823; Owain Goch a tale of the Revolution 3 vols. 1827; these books are also attributed to Thomas Roscoe jun.; contributed to the Reliquary many papers on archæology of Derbyshire 1862–72. d. Chapel en le Frith 20 April 1879.
BENNETT, William Mineard. b. Exeter 1778; pupil of Sir Thomas Lawrence; a painter of portraits and miniatures; exhibited at the R.A. 1812–16 and 1834–35; lived many years in Paris; lived at Exeter 1844 to death; composed many glees and songs which were popular in Paris and Naples. d. Hill’s buildings, St. Sidwell’s, Exeter 17 Oct. 1858.
BENNETT, Sir William Sterndale (youngest child of Robert Bennett of Sheffield, organist of the parish church who d. 3 Nov. 1819). b. 8 Norfolk Row, Sheffield 13 April 1816; ed. at Royal Academy of Music, London 1826–36, and at Leipsic 1836–37; member of Royal Society of Musicians 1838; taught music in London; founded the Bach Society 1849; professor of music at Univ. of Cam. 4 March 1856; Mus. Doc. Cam. 1856, M.A. 1867; D.C.L. Ox. 1870; a life member of St. John’s coll. Cam. 26 Sep. 1856; conductor of Philharmonic Society concerts 1856–68, Beethoven gold medallist 7 July 1867; principal of Royal Academy of Music 22 June 1866 to death; knighted at Windsor Castle 24 March 1871; composed The Naiads, overture produced at Society of British Musicians 25 Jany. 1837; The wood nymphs, overture produced at the Gewandhaus concerts Leipzig 24 Jany. 1839; The May Queen, pastoral produced at Leeds musical festival 8 Sep. 1858; The woman of Samaria, oratorio produced at Birmingham musical festival 27 Aug. 1867. (m. 9 April 1844 Mary Anne only dau. of James Wood, commander R.N., she d. 17 Oct. 1862 aged 37.) d. 66 St. John’s Wood road London 1 Feb. 1875. bur. north aisle of choir Westminster Abbey 6 Feb. Grove’s Dictionary of music i, 224–29 (1879); W. A. Barrett’s English Church composers (1882) 163–65; Academy vii, 154, 179, 388, 466 (1875); I.L.N. xl, 551 (1862), portrait, lxvi, 152, 326 (1875), portrait.
BENNIS, George Geary. b. Corkamore, Limerick 1790 or 1793; a grocer at Limerick; settled at Liverpool where he became a Quaker; went to Paris 1823; director of a libraire des étrangers in Paris 1830–36; an insurance agent and librarian to the British embassy, Paris; edited Galignani’s Messenger; chevalier of the Légion d’honneur 1854; author of The principles of the one faith professed by all Christians, Liverpool 1816, 3 ed. Paris 1826; Traveller’s pocket diary and Student’s journal; Treatise on life assurance. d. Paris 1 Jany. 1866, left over 10,000 volumes to found a free library at Limerick. J. Smith’s A descriptive catalogue of Friends books i, 246 (1867).
BENSON, Charles. Ed. at Trin. coll. Dublin, scholar 1818, B.A. 1819, M.A. and M.B. 1822, M.D. 1840; L.R.C.S. Ireland 1821, F.R.C.S. 1825, pres. 1854; professor of practice of medicine in school attached to the college; M.R.I.A. 30 Nov. 1825; physician to City of Dublin hospital; contributed 4 articles to Todd’s Cyclopædia of anatomy and a course of lectures on the Diseases of the digestive organs to Dublin Medical Press 1840–42. d. 42 Fitzwilliam sq. Dublin 21 Jany. 1880 in 83 year.
BENSON, Rev. Christopher (son of Thomas Benson of Cockermouth, solicitor). b. Cockermouth 1788; ed. at Trin. coll. Cam., scholar, B.A. 1809, M.A. 1815; select preacher 1817; Hulsean lecturer (the first) 1820–22; fellow of Magd. coll. Cam. 1820; preb. of Worcester cathedral 27 Dec. 1825 to death; R. of St. Giles’s-in-the-Fields, London 1824–26; V. of Cropthorne, Worcs. 1826–40; master of the Temple London 1827–45; author of Discourses on powers of the clergy 1841; Baptism and baptismal regeneration 1843. d. Woodfield, Ross, Hereford 25 March 1868. The living and the dead by a country curate (Rev. E. Neale) 1827 pp. 81–98; E. M. Roose’s Ecclesiastica (1842) 413–15.
BENSON, Sir John (only son of John Benson of Collooney, co. Sligo). b. Collooney 1812; architect and civil engineer; county surveyor to east riding of co. Cork 8 April 1846; surveyor of city of Cork 29 Jany. 1851; architect and builder of Dublin exhibition 12 Aug. 1852 which was opened 12 May 1853, knighted by Earl of St. Germans at the opening; engineer of Cork waterworks which cost £80,000; built 48 bridges in co. Cork; M.I.C.E. 4 March 1862. d. 15 Alexander sq. Brompton London 17 Oct. 1874. Min. of Proc. of Instit. of C.E. xl, 251–53 (1875).
BENSON, Richard. Entered Bengal army 1805; colonel 11 Bengal N.I. 16 July 1849 to death; C.B. 3 April 1846; M.G. 28 Nov. 1854. d. at his residence on lake of Buttermere, Cumberland 26 Aug. 1858.
BENSON, Rev. Samuel. Ed. at St. John’s coll. Cam.; B.A. 1823, M.A. 1826; lecturer at St. John’s Horsleydown 1823–33; chaplain of Horsemonger lane gaol 1833–43; V. of St. Saviour’s Southwark 1868 to death; author of several sermons and tracts. d. 34 Borough high st. London 22 Feb. 1881 aged 82. I.L.N. xxiv, 401 (1851), portrait.
BENT, Jeffery Hart (eld. son of Robert Bent of Lancashire). Ed. at Trin. coll. Cam., B.A. 1804, M.A. 1807; barrister M.T. 7 Feb. 1806; chief justice of New South Wales 1814, of Grenada 1820 to 1833, of St. Lucia 1833 to 1836 and of British Guiana 1836 to death. d. George Town Demerara 29 June 1852 aged 72. I.L.N. xxi, 155 (1852).
BENT, Sir John (eld. son of Wm. Bent of Stoneyfield near Newcastle under Lyne). b. Newcastle under Lyne 1793; ed. at Newcastle gr. sch.; a large brewer at Liverpool; alderman of Liverpool, mayor 1850–51; knighted by the Queen at Liverpool 9 Oct. 1851. d. Edge hill near Liverpool 13 Aug. 1857.
BENT, John. Assistant surgeon in the army 11 Sep. 1838; served in the Crimea 30 April 1855 to end of the war; deputy surgeon general 28 Jany. 1862; surgeon general 11 July 1874 to death. d. The Camp Aldershot 23 Nov. 1874 aged 57.
BENT, Robert (son of Wm. Bent who founded Bent’s Literary Advertiser 1802). Edited The London Catalogue of books 1839. d. 6 Dec. 1859.
BENTHAM, George. b. June 1787; entered navy 1795; captain 16 Sep. 1816; retired V.A. 9 July 1857; knight of Sardinian order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare. d. Barton fields, Canterbury 24 Feb. 1862.
BENTHAM, George (2 son of Sir Samuel Bentham, naval architect 1757–1831). b. Stoke near Plymouth 22 Sep. 1800; lived in France 1814–26; managed his father’s estate of 2000 acres near Montpellier; student at Lincoln’s Inn; worked for his uncle Jeremy Bentham 1826–32; F.L.S. 1828, vice pres. 1858, pres. 1861–74; hon. sec. of Horticultural Society 1829–40 which he raised to a flourishing condition; presented his collections and books valued at £6,000 to Kew Gardens 1854; F.R.S. 5 June 1862, royal medallist 1859; LLD. Cambridge 4 June 1874; C.M.G. 1878; author of Outlines of a new system of logic 1827 which set forth for the first time doctrine of quantification of the predicate, the most fruitful discovery in abstract logical science since Aristotle; Handbook of the British flora 1858, 2 vols. 1865; Flora Hong-Kongensis 1861; Flora Australiensis 7 vols. 1863–78; author with Sir Joseph Hooker of Genera Plantarum, 6 parts in 3 vols. 1862–83 which marks an epoch in botany. d. 25 Wilton place, London 10 Sep. 1884. Nature xxx, 539–43 (1884); G. C. Wallich’s Eminent men of the day (1870), portrait.
BENTINCK, Adolphe Baron Von. Secretary of legation for the Netherlands at Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin and Vienna successively; councillor of the legation in London 7 years; envoy extraord. and minister plenipo. in London 25 Aug. 1851 to death. d. 26 Eaton sq. London 2 March 1868 aged 70.
BENTINCK, Arthur Cavendish. b. 9 May 1819; ensign 84 Foot 2 Nov. 1838; lieut. col. 7 Dragoon guards 8 Dec. 1854 and 4 Dragoon guards 30 Aug. 1859 to 30 May 1862 when placed on h.p.; L.G. 1 Oct. 1877. d. Thomas’s hotel, 25 Berkely sq. London 11 Dec. 1877.
BENTINCK, Charles Anthony Ferdinand. b. 4 March 1792; ensign Coldstream guards 16 Nov. 1808, lieut. col. 9 Nov. 1846 to 25 April 1848 when placed on h.p.; colonel 12 Foot 14 April 1857 to death; L.G. 15 Jany. 1858. d. Bergheim in principality of Waldeck 28 Oct. 1864.
BENTINCK, Sir Henry John William (youngest son of Major general John Charles Bentinck 1763–1833). b. 8 Sep. 1796; ensign Coldstream guards 25 March 1813, lieut. col. 22 Aug. 1851 to 20 June 1854; aide de camp to the Queen 23 Nov. 1841 to 20 June 1854; commanded the brigade of Guards in the Crimea 22 Feb. to 8 Nov. 1854 and the fourth division 1 June to 10 Oct. 1855; colonel 28 Foot 11 Oct. 1854 to death; K.C.B. 5 July 1855; groom in waiting to the Queen Nov. 1859 to June 1867; general 8 Dec. 1867. d. 35 Grosvenor st. London 29 Sep. 1878.
BENTINCK, Henry William Cavendish (youngest son of 4 Duke of Portland 1768–1854). b. 9 June 1804; ed. at Ch. Ch. Ox.; M.P. for North Notts. 6 March 1846 to 21 March 1857; invented the call for trumps at whist, known as Blue Peter, at Graham’s club house 87 St. James’s st. about 1836, an explanation of which first appeared in print in The laws and practice of whist by Cælebs, M.A. [E. A, Carlyon], 2 ed. 1856; master of the Rufford hounds 1835–36, of the Burton hounds 1842–64, when he sold the pack for £3,500, had over 100 horses in his stable at one time. d. Tathwell hall near Louth 31 Dec. 1870. Baily’s Mag. xix, 288–93 (1871).
BENTINCK, Venerable William Harry Edward. (elder son of Lord Edward Charles Bentinck 1744–1819). b. 2 Feb. 1784; ed. at Westminster and Ch. Ch. Ox.; B.A. 1805, M.A. 1808; R. of Sigglesthorne near Hull 1808 to death; Canon of Westminster 7 Oct. 1809 to 1864 and Archdeacon 1854–64; rural dean 1842 to death; built at his own expense church of Holy Trinity, Vauxhall bridge 1852. d. Sigglesthorne rectory 29 Sep. 1868. I.L.N. xxiv, 401 (1854), portrait.
BENTLEY, Charles. Member of the old water-color Society 1844; painted many pictures chiefly of coast and river scenery, four of which are in the South Kensington Museum. d. of cholera at Mornington place London 4 Sep. 1854 aged 48.
BENTLEY, Edward (eld. son of John Bentley 1786–1860). b. 31 Dec. 1817; an operative chemist; gained credit for his method of obtaining the more powerful vegetable preparations for medical use; studied at Guy’s Hospital; L.R.C.P. 1845; M.D. St. Andrews 1845; very instrumental in founding City of London hospital for diseases of the chest 1848; hon. sec. to Pathological Society of London. d. 8 St. Thomas sq. Hackney 2 Feb. 1861.
BENTLEY, James. b. 1785; purchased Wood Green park, Cheshunt, Herts 1839 and the manor of the rectory of Cheshunt 1855; sheriff of Herts 1860; treasurer of St. Bartholomew’s hospital 1841–55. d. Wood Green park 26 Oct. 1880 in 96 year.
BENTLEY, John (son of Edward Bentley, principal of accountants office bank of England who d. 24 July 1838 aged 85). b. 12 Nov. 1786; ed. at St. Paul’s school; secretary to Bank of England 1850–60. d. Park crescent, Brighton 20 Dec. 1860.
BENTLEY, Joseph. Lecturer and writer on education; promoted two assurance companies 1855–56; author of Manual of life insurance 1862; Financial position of life offices 1865. d. Feb. 1872 aged 67.
BENTLEY, Joseph Clayton. b. Bradford, Yorkshire 1809; a landscape painter; went to London 1832; exhibited landscapes chiefly views in Yorkshire at Royal Academy and other exhibitions; a line engraver; executed many plates for publications of Messrs. Fisher and Messrs. Virtue especially for the Gems of European Art 2 vols. 1847; some of his best works are in the Vernon Gallery at the National Gallery. d. Sydenham, Kent 9 Oct. 1851.
BENTLEY, Richard (brother of John Bentley 1786–1860). b. Oct. 1794; ed. at St. Paul’s sch.; publisher with his brother Samuel in Salisbury st. Fleet st. Jany. 1819 to 1829; publisher with Henry Colburn 1829–32; started Bentley’s Miscellany 1837; founded with George Smythe and the Young England party a newspaper called Young England Jany. 1845 which collapsed April 1845; started with John Douglas Cook Bentley’s Quarterly Review 1859 of which only 4 numbers appeared; published Standard Novels 127 volumes the copyright and stock of which he sold 27 Feb. 1856 for £11,000; publisher in ordinary to the Queen 1838 to death. d. Ramsgate 10 Sep. 1871. Graphic iv, 375, 381 (1871), portrait.
BENTLEY, Samuel (brother of the preceding). b. 10 May 1785; ed. at St. Paul’s school; apprenticed to John Nichols, printer and publisher; partner in firm of Nichols, Son and Bentley April 1812 to Dec. 1818; publisher with his brother Richard Jany. 1819 to 1829; carried on business at Bangor house, Shoe lane under firm of Samuel and John Bentley, Wilson and Fley 1829 to April 1853 when he retired; an antiquary, musician and artist; edited the Concio de puero Jesu of Erasmus 1816; author of Excerpta Historica 1831; indexed Nichols’s Literary anecdotes and Surtees’s History of Durham. d. Croydon 13 April 1868. G.M. i, 127 (1868).