BEDFORD — BEDFORDSHIRE 18!) On the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1848 he became acres; population (1881), 19,532 ; (1891), 28,023; rector of the college of Louvain; but in 1852 was (1901), 35,144. recalled to Austria, and became Superior for Hungary, to Bedford, a city of Indiana, U.S.A., capital of which office was soon added that of Provincial of Austria. It was greatly owing to his exertions that the Primate of Lawrence county, in the southern part of the state, at Hungary, Cardinal Szcitowski, obtained the revocation of the intersection of three railways. It has extensive stone the edict of 1848, expelling the Jesuits from Hungary. quarries. Population (1900), 6ll5. In 1853 Father Beckx attended the General Assembly of Bedfordshire, a south midland county of Engthe Jesuits at Rome, where on 2nd July he was elected land^ is bounded on the N. by Huntingdon, on the N.W. General of the Order in succession to Father Roothaan, by Northampton, on the W. by Buckingham, on the >S. by by twenty-seven votes against sixteen given for Father Hertford, and on the E. by Hertford and Cambridge. Pierling. In 1883, owing to his great age, he received Area and Population.—According to the census returns of 1891 the assistance of Father Anderledy, vicar-general, and in the area of the ancient and administrative county was 298,494 the following year resigned to him the office of General. acres, or 466 square miles, with a population in 1881 of 149,473, 1 luring his long tenure of the post (only exceeded by one and in 1891 of 160,704J of whom 75,477 were males, and 85,227 the number of persons to a square mile being 345, and of his predecessors, Claudio Acquaviva), he had seen the females, of acres to a person 1'86. Since 1891 the area of the adminisJesuits emerge triumphant from the disasters of 1848; trative county has undergone various alterations. In 1896 the and they had proved too strong even for so formidable a parish of Swineshead was transferred from Huntingdon to Bedford, foe as Bismarck. This success was largely the work of ami the parish of Tilbrook from Bedford to Huntingdon ; and in 1897 a part of the parish of Caddington, and the parishes of KensFather Beckx, whose combination of energy and tact, as worth and Studham, were transferred from Hertford to Bedford, well as his personal piety, gave him a preponderant and the hamlet of Humbershoe, part of the parish of Houghton influence in the Church. Pius IX. in particular placed Regis, the parish of Holywell, and parts of the parish of Shillingunbounded confidence in him. He died at Rome on 4th ton, from Bedford to Hertford. The area of the registration county 309,989 acres, with a population in 1891 of 165,999, of which March 1881. His Month of Mary, published anonymously is/ 4,189 were urban, and 91,810 rural. Within this area the increase in 1838, ran through many editions, and was translated of population between 1881 and 1891 was 7'59 per cent. Between into most of the European languages (English edition, 1881 and 1891 the excess of births over deaths was 21,383, but the 1883). He was also joint-author of the Kothen Prayer- increase in the resident population was only 11,713. In 1901 the population was 171,699. The following table gives particulars as Hook, another work that obtained the widest circulation. to births, deaths, and marriages in 1880, 1890, and 1899 :— But his literary activity was chiefly confined to the Jesuit organ, Givilta Cattolica, of which he was the founder and Illegitimate births. Year. Marriages.' Births. Deaths. director. (H. sy.) Males. Females. 1 1880 975 5008 3064 Bedford, a municipal and parliamentary borough 191 189 1890 1052 1 4597 2667 139 125 (co-extensive and returning one member), market town, 1898 1298 4423 2697 113 107 and county town of Bedfordshire, England, on the Ouse, 50 miles N.N.W. of London by rail. New buildings at the In 1899 the number of marriages was 1213, of births 4328 and Grammar School were erected in 1891 at a cost of £25,000. of deaths 2858. The following table gives the marriage-, birth-, and death-rates In 1900 a further separate building for younger boys was opened, and there have also been recently erected admir- per thousand of the population, with the percentage of illegitimate births, for a series of years :— ably-equipped carpentering, engineering, and other workshops. The chemical and physical laboratories, gymnasium, 1870-79. 1880. 1880-89.! 1890. 1888-97. 1898. ifcc., have been fitted out with every modern convenience Marriage-rate . 14-1 12-6 13-5 12-1 13-5 14and appliance. The number of scholars at the end of 1900 Birth-rate . 33-7 32-4 31-2 27-8 27-3 25-4 was 876. The Harpur Trust also governs a modern school Death-rate. 19-6 19-8 177 16-2 16-0 15with (1900) 508 boys, a high school with 538 girls, a modern Percentage of school with 213 girls, and elementary schools with 1975 illegitimacy . 7-2 7-6 6-6 5-7 5-5 5-0 children. This last figure was formerly much larger, but 7 Both the birth-rate and the death-rate were below those of Engthree board schools, providing accommodation for 2670 In 1891 there vrnre in the county 658 natives of Scotland, children (1901), have been opened in order to relieve the land. 663 natives of Ireland, and 316 foreigners. Trust. Technical classes under the control of the county Constitution and Government.—The county is divided into tv'O' council are also conducted in the town. The old grammar parliamentary divisions, and also includes the parliamentary school buildings have been turned into a town hall, &c. borough of Bedford returning one member. There are three boroughs : Bedford, Dunstable, and Luton. The urban Modern structures include the barracks (£50,000), the corn municipal districts are Ampthill, Biggleswade, Kempston, and Leightonexchange, the shire hall (rebuilt at a cost of £20,000), buzzard. The county is in the Midland circuit, and assizes are a suspension bridge, a theatre, and the county hospital held at Bedford. The boroughs of Bedford, Dunstable, and (£34,000). The Bedford rooms are now used as a library. Luton have separate commissions of the peace, and Bedford has addition a separate court of quarter sessions. The ancient There are statues of John Bunyan (1874) and of John in county, which forms an archdeanery in the diocese of Ely, conHoward, the philanthropist (1894). Bunyan Meeting, a tains 125 ecclesiastical parishes and districts, and parts of & chapel on the site of that in which the former preached, others. Education.—The number of elementary schools on 31st August has interesting memorials of its founder. The corporation owns. the markets and the water supply, and provides 1899 was 156, of which 69 were board schools and 87 voluntary, the latter including 80 National Church of England schools, 3electric light. The water supply from the present sources Wesleyan, 1 Roman Catholic, and 3 “British and other.” The being insufficient to meet the growing demands of the average attendance at board schools was 13,315, and at voluntary town, a scheme was proposed in 1901 for bringing water schools 14,019. The total school board receipts for the year from Henlow, 12 miles distant. A provisional order to ending 29th September 1899 were over £47,247. The income the Technical Instruction Act was over £8, and that under construct and work tramways has been granted to the under the Agricultural Rates Act wTas over £1550. corporation. A public park of 61 acres was opened in Agriculture.—About nine-tenths of the total area of the county 1888, and another of 23 acres in 1894. Large engineer- is under cultivation. Of the corn crops, which still occupy an ing works have also been erected. Pillow-lace making exceptionally large area, wheat is still the chief, although its area the last 25 years has diminished more than a third. in the neighbourhood is almost extinct. Area, 2200 within Potatoes and turnips occupy an almost equal area, but the area of
