for the reception of private pupils. In 1802, Priestley's chapel at Birmingham having been rebuilt, Belsham preached the opening sermon there (Williams, p. 508). In this year, also, he was appointed one of the trustees of Dr. Williams's charities (ibid. 513). In 1805 the pulpit of Essex Street chapel, London, which had been occupied by the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey and Dr. Disney, was accepted by Belsham, though he continued to reside at Hackney, and Lindsey still occupied the parsonage known as Essex House. In 1811, Belsham injured his leg by falling on the step of a coach. This first impaired his health, which suffered more on his removal to Essex House, in 1812, on the death of Mrs. Lindsey. In 1820, an attack of paralysis forced Belsham to spend much time at Brighton; and in 1823, a second accident to his leg, attended to by Lawrence and Sir Astley Cooper, and which resulted in his being on crutches for nearly three years, made him move from the Strand to Hampstead. Apoplectic seizures were frequent with him from this period; the Rev. Thomas Madge was appointed his assistant in 1825; and dying at Hampstead 11 Nov. 1829, aged 80, he was buried in the Bunhill Fields Cemetery, in the same grave with the Rev. Theophilus Lindsey.
Belsham never married. One of his sisters married John King, archdeacon of Killala, and this took him frequently to Ireland. His controversial publications, his sermons, and other theological works, were very numerous. His first sermon was published in 1775, two volumes of discourses were published half a century after, in 1826 and 1827, and between these two issues fifty other works were printed by him, a complete list of which is appended to the reprint of his ‘Character and Writings,’ 1830, extracted from the ‘Monthly Repository’ for February, &c., 1830. Belsham's ‘Memoirs of Theophilus Lindsey,’ first published in 1812, went through several editions, the last being as late as 1873, when the Unitarian Association printed the centenary edition, with preface by Rev. R. Spears. Others of Belsham's more important works are ‘Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind,’ 1801; the ‘Improved Version of the New Testament’ (Belsham being principal editor), 1808, which was severely attacked in the ‘Quarterly Review’ (Williams, p. 590); ‘Letters to the Bishop of London in Vindication of Unitarianism,’ 1815; and the ‘Epistles of St. Paul translated,’ 4 vols, 1822, which also received bitter treatment in the ‘Quarterly Review,’ No. lix. (Williams, p. 752). But, besides these, the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ from vol. lxi. abounds with sharp letters from correspondents attacking Belsham and unitarianism (the Bishop of St. David's being prominent amongst them), and with Belsham's sharp answers in defence of himself and of the principle of religious liberty, till in vol. lxxxvi. Mr. Sylvanus Urban declined to give any more space to the subject. In the ‘Monthly Magazine’ for February 1807, Belsham published some objections to Lysons's account of Bedford in the ‘Magna Britannia,’ and Lysons replied in ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ vol. lxxxvii. pt. ii. p. 405. abounds with sharp letters from correspondents attacking Belsham and unitarianism (the Bishop of St. David's being prominent amongst them), and with Belsham's sharp answers in defense of himself and of the principle of religious liberty, till in vol. lxxxvi. Mr. Sylvanus Urban declined to give any more space to the subject. In the 'Month;y Magazine' for February 1807, Belsham published some objections to Lyson's account of Bedford in the 'Magna Britannia,' and Lysons repield in 'Gentleman's Magazine,' vol. lxxxvii. pt. ii. p. 405.
[Williams's Memoirs of the late Rev. Thomas Belsham, 1833; Monthly Repository, Feb. et seq. 1830; Reprint of this, published by the Unitarian Association, 1830; Boswell's Johnson, i. 329, Malone's ed. 1823; Freethinking Christian's Mag. ii. 278 et seq., 360 et seq.]
BELSHAM, WILLIAM (1752–1827), political writer and historian, brother of Thomas Belsham [q. v.], the unitarian minister and writer, was born at Bedford in 1752. He devoted his life to the support, by his pen, of whig principles, commencing his career as an author by publishing ‘Essays, Philosophical, Historical, and Literary,’ two vols. 1789–91. In 1792 he published ‘Examination of an Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs,’ and in 1793 ‘Remarks on the Nature and Necessity of Political Reform.’ He also wrote on the test laws, the French revolution, the treaty of Amiens, and the poor laws. In 1793 he published, in two volumes, ‘Memoirs of the Kings of Great Britain of the House of Brunswick-Luneburg,’ and this was followed in 1795 by ‘Memoirs of the Reign of George III to the Session of Parliament 1793,’ in four volumes, a fifth and sixth volume appearing in 1801, bringing it down to 1799. In 1798 he published, in two volumes, ‘A History of Great Britain from the Revolution to the Accession of the House of Hanover,’ and in 1806 all the volumes were reissued, with two additional volumes, the twelve volumes appearing under the title, ‘History of Great Britain to the Conclusion of the Peace of Amiens in 1802.’ The style of Belsham is clear and simple, his information extensive, and his opinions enlightened and liberal, if not philosophical. He justified the Americans in their resistance to the demands of England, and he was a strenuous advocate of progressive political liberty. He died near Hammersmith 17 Nov. 1827.
[Literary Gazette for 1827; Gent. Mag. vol. xcviii. pt. i. pp. 274–5.]
BELSON, JOHN (fl. (1688), was a catholic
gentleman, much esteemed on account of
his knowledge of history and controversial
