BEDSON, GEORGE. _b._ Sutton Coldfield, Warwick 3 Nov. 1820; manager of business of Messrs. Johnson of Manchester 1851; manager of Bradford iron works 1858 to death; initiated and perfected many inventions in the iron and wire trades; propounded theory of continuous brakes for railway trains about 1864; lived at Bradford 1858–72 and 1882 to death, and at Marple, Cheshire 1872–82. _d._ Bradford house, Manchester 12 Dec. 1884. BEECH, REV. HUGH. _b._ Chesterton, Staffs. 3 June 1787; Wesleyan minister 1811 to death, _d._ Cheedle, Staffs. 22 Feb. 1856. _The good soldier, a memoir of Rev. Hugh Beech_ 1856. BEECHAM, REV. JOHN. _b._ Barnoldby-le-Beck near Great Grimsby 1787; became a Wesleyan preacher 1815; general secretary of Wesleyan Missionary Society 1831 to death; pres. of Wesleyan conference 1850; author of _An essay on the constitution of Wesleyan Methodism_ 1829, _3 ed._ 1851; _Ashantee and the Gold Coast_ 1841. _d._ Canonbury, London 22 April 1856. _Wesleyan Meth. Mag. lxxix, pt. 2_, 577–605 (1856). BEECHEY, FREDERICK WILLIAM (_2 son of Sir Wm. Beechey R.A. 1753–1839_). _b._ 17 Feb. 1796; entered the navy 7 July 1806; went with Sir John Franklin to Spitzbergen on his first expedition 1818; with Edward Parry in the Hecla 1819; helped to survey north coast of Africa Nov. 1821 to July 1822; commanded the Blossom in the Pacific 1825–28; captain 8 May 1827; surveyed coast of Ireland 1837–47; superintendent marine department of Board of Trade 1850 to death; aide de camp to the Queen 18 July 1851 to 11 Sep. 1854; R.A. 11 Sep. 1854; F.R.G.S. 1833, pres. 1855 to death; F.R.S. 23 Dec. 1824, vice pres. 1854; author of _Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Behring’s Strait 2 vols._ 1831; _A voyage of discovery towards the north_ pole 1843. _d._ 8 Westbourne crescent, Hyde Park, London 29 Nov. 1856. _Proceedings of Royal Society viii_, 283–87 (1856). BEECHEY, GEORGE D. (_brother of the preceding_). Portrait painter; exhibited 24 portraits at the R.A. 1817 to 1832; went to Calcutta about 1830; court painter and controller of the household to King of Oudh. (_m._ an Indian Lady called Hinda, whose _portrait_ he sent to the R.A. 1822). Supposed to have died in India 1856. BEECHEY, HENRY WILLIAM (_brother of the preceding_). travelled with Belzoni in Egypt 1816–17; examined and reported on antiquities of the Cyrenaica for Colonial Office 1821–22; F.S.A. 1825; exhibited a picture at the R.A. 1829, and another at British Institution 1838; emigrated to New Zealand 1855; wrote a memoir of Sir Joshua Reynolds prefixed to his Literary works published in 2 vols. 1835 and reprinted 1852. Supposed to have died in New Zealand in or about 1870.