Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Bedford, William Kirkpatrick Riland
BEDFORD, WILLIAM KIRKPATRICK RILAND (1826–1905), antiquary and genealogist, born at Sutton Coldfield rectory on 12 July 1826, was eldest of five sons of William Riland Bedford, rector of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire (d. 1843), by his wife Grace Campbell, daughter of Charles Sharpe of Hoddam, Dumfriesshire. Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe [q. v.] was his mother's brother. After education at Sutton Coldfield grammar school, Bedford won a Queen's scholarship at Westminster school in 1840, and passing head of the list qualified for a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford. An attack of scarlet fever denied him the advantage of his success, and on 6 June 1844 he matriculated as a commoner at Brasenose College. In 1847 he was secretary of the Union Society when Lord Dufferin [q. v. Suppl. II] was president. He graduated B.A. in 1848 and proceeded M.A. in 1852. In 1849 he was ordained to the curacy of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and in 1850 he succeeded his uncle, Dr. Williamson, as rector of Sutton Coldfield. He held the post for forty-two years, and was rural dean for twenty-five.
Bedford was an acknowledged authority on the antiquities of Sutton Coldfield, which he described in 'Three Hundred Years of a Family Living, being a History of the Rilands of Sutton Coldfield' (1889), and 'The Manor of Sutton, Feudal and Municipal' (1901). He was well versed in heraldry and genealogies, and was a frequent contributor to 'Notes and Queries.' From 1878 to 1902 he was chaplain of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, and in his capacity of official genealogist he compiled many works dealing with the history and regulations of the knights hospitallers, including 'Malta and the Knights' (1870; 2nd edit. 1894), 'Notes on the Old Hospitals of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem' (1881), and a history of the English Hospitallers (1902) in collaboration with R. Holbeche.
Bedford was a keen cricketer in the early days of the game. On 20 July 1856 he founded 'The Free Foresters,' an amateur wandering club with headquarters at Sutton Coldfield, and he recorded the fortunes of the club in his 'Annals of the Free Foresters from 1856' (1895). He was also an expert archer and frequently attended the meetings of the Woodmen of Arden at Meriden, Warwickshire, winning the Arden medal on 16 July 1857. In 1885 he published 'Records of the Woodmen of Arden from 1785,' and contributed to the volume on 'Archery' in the Badminton series (1894). In addition to the works already mentioned his chief publications were a 'Memoir of C. K. Sharpe,' his uncle, written from family papers (1888), 'The Blazon of Episcopacy' (1858; 2nd edit. 1897), and 'Outcomes of Old Oxford' (1899).
Bedford died at Cricklewood on 23 Jan. 1905; his ashes were buried after cremation at Golder's Green. He married: (1) on 18 Sept. 1851, Maria Amy, youngest daughter of Joseph Houson (d. 1890) of Southwell, Nottinghamshire; (2) in 1900, Margaret, daughter of Denis Browne. He had by his first wife seven sons and three daughters.
[Westminster School Register, 1764-1883, p. 19; The Times, 25 January 1905; Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack, 1906; Annals of the Free Foresters, 1895 (with portrait); Memories of Dean Hole, p. 7; Notes and Queries, 10th s. iii. 120; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Brasenose College Register, 1509-1909, i. 532.]