years in a very wretched style, but in 1874 was induced to take up his abode in more comfortable quarters. His ‘experimental gardens,’ as he called them, were almost opposite the present Pentonville Prison, and were known as the ‘Frenchman's Island,’ about which he used to wander in the night-time with a pistol, to frighten off unwelcome visitors. He was exceedingly abstemious in diet, living chiefly upon peas, which he carried in his pocket. The reason he always adduced for this self-denying existence was that he wished to leave as much as possible for charitable uses. The sincerity of this declaration was proved on his death, at Duke Street, Douglas, on 28 Oct. 1875, when it was found that all his property, including about 10,000l., in addition to the value of the estates already named, was left in trust for philanthropic purposes in the Isle of Man. This disposition was accompanied by some curious provisions. He was buried on 2 Nov. at St. George's, Douglas. A posthumous bust of him was executed by Mr. E. E. Geflowski.
[Manchester Guardian, 30 Oct. 1875; Holyoake's History of Co-operation, London, 1875, i. 220, 349, ii. 401–5; private information.]
BAVAND, WILLIAM (fl. 1559), having been educated at Oxford, became a student in the Middle Temple, and published in 1559 ‘A work touching the good ordering of a Common Weale in 9 Books,’ a translation from Ferrarius Montanus. The book is dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. Scattered up and down the work are several verse-translations of passages from classical poets. Jasper Heywood, in his translation of Seneca's ‘Thyestes’ (1560), mentions Bavand in these words:—
There Bavande bides that turned his toil
A common wealth to frame,
And greater grace in English gives
To worthy authors name.
[Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica; Wood's Athenæ (ed. Bliss), i. 310.]
BAVANT, JOHN, D.D. (fl. 1552–1586), catholic divine, was a native of Cheshire, and received his education at Oxford, where he graduated M.A. in 1552. He was one of the original fellows of St. John's College, and the first Greek reader there. During his residence at Oxford he was tutor to the two noted writers, Edmund Campion and Gregory Martin. Leaving this country on the change of religion in 1558–9, he pursued his theological studies at Rheims and Rome, and was created D.D. In 1581 he was sent from Rheims to England, and he laboured on the mission for a considerable time, but was at last apprehended and kept a prisoner in Wisbech Castle, where it is supposed he died. He was alive on 13 June 1586, when Dr. Gray of Wisbech addressed to Secretary Walsyngham a petition praying for his release.
[First and Second Douay Diaries; Wood's Fasti Oxon. (ed. Bliss), i. 35; Dodd's Church Hist. ii. 59; State Papers, Dom. Elizabeth, cxc. art. 30.]
BAWDWEN, WILLIAM (1563–1632), jesuit. [See Baldwin.]
BAWDWEN, WILLIAM (1762–1816), antiquary, the son of William Bawdwen, of Stone Gap, Craven, Yorkshire, was born 9 March 1762. He was educated at Manchester school, and subsequently took holy orders. He is described on the title-pages of his books as B.A., but his name does not occur in the lists of Oxford or Cambridge graduates. He is said to have been at one time curate of Wakefield (Lupton's Wakefield Worthies, p. 9); he afterwards became curate of Frickly-cum-Clayton and vicar of Hooton Pagnel, benefices near Doncaster, which he held till his death. He married, 30 Dec. 1793, Ann, daughter of William Shackleton, of Wakefield, and died at Hooton Pagnel 14 Sept. 1816, leaving twelve children. The estate of Stone Gap, which had been in his family for two hundred years, was sold by Bawdwen soon after he succeeded to it.
Bawdwen, who devoted all his leisure to antiquarian research, began a translation of the Domesday Book from the edition published by the Record Commission in 1783. He intended to complete it in ten volumes, but two only appeared before his death. The first volume was published in 1809 at Doncaster with a dedication to Lord Fitzwilliam, under the title of ‘Dom Boc; a translation of the Record called Domesday, so far as relates to the county of York, including Amounderness, Lonsdale, and Furness in Lancashire, and such parts of Westmoreland, Cumberland, as are contained in the Survey; also the counties of Derby, Nottingham, Rutland, and Lincoln, with an introduction, glossary, and indexes.’ The second volume appeared in 1812, and dealt with the counties of Hertford, Middlesex, Buckingham, Oxford, and Gloucester. Bawdwen also contributed a translation of the Domesday survey of Dorsetshire to the fourth volume of Hutchinson's ‘History of Dorsetshire.’
[Manchester School Register, ed. Finch Smith, published by Chetham Society, i. 212; Gent. Mag. lxxxvi. pt. 2, p. 286; Hunter's Hist. of Deanery of Doncaster, 1828, ii. 146.]
