the pencil of Henry Beechey lent additional
interest by numerous charming drawings, illustrative of the art and natural peculiarities
of the classic region they were exploring,
many of which were unfortunately left out
when the narrative came to be published in
1828 (Gent. Mag. 3rd ser. ii. 109). Of the
remainder of Beechey's life we have failed to
recover any particulars. He had seen much
vicissitude, and in 1855 emigrated to New
Zealand, where he is believed by his relatives
to have died in or about 1870. He left a
family. Besides his share in the above-mentioned work Beechey wrote a painstaking
memoir of Sir Joshua Reynolds, prefixed to
the edition of the latter's 'Literary Works,'
published in 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1835, and
afterwards reprinted in Bohn's 'Standard
Library' edition, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1852.
Beechey became a fellow of the Society of
Antiquaries in 1825.
[Family information.]
BEECHEY, Sir WILLIAM (1753–1839), painter, was born at Burford, in Oxfordshire, 12 Dec. 1753. He is stated by
Dayes to have begun life as a house-painter.
From other accounts it would appear that he
was articled to a solicitor at Stowe, in Gloucestershire, and was afterwards transferred to
a lawyer in London. In London he made
the acquaintance of some art students, who
led him to get his articles cancelled, and he
became in 1772 a student of the Royal
Academy. In 1775 he exhibited some portraits, and from that time he practised in
London with tolerable success. In 1781.
however, he removed to Norwich. He stayed
there some four or five years, painting subject
pieces ('in the manner' of Hogarth) and portraits. Returning to London he settled in
Lower Brook Street, and got both work and
fame. In 1793 he was elected A.R.A., and
painted the same year a portrait of Queen
Charlotte, which procured him the appointment of portrait painter to her majesty. A
large equestrian group of George III, with
the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York,
reviewing the 10th hussars and 3rd dragoons,
gained great celebrity. It was painted in
1793. This work, now hanging at Hampton
Court, is considered his best. 'Although a
clever and somewhat showy group of portraits, it has little of real nature, and is full
of painters' artifices.' In 1793 he was knighted
and elected a full member of the Royal
Academy.
He was for a long while a fashionable portrait painter; but the great reputation of Lawrence had outshone his own some years before he finally retired. 'His colouring,' according to Redgrave, 'was pleasing. He excelled in his females and children; but his males wanted power. His draperies were poor and ill-cast, and he showed no ability to overcome the graceless stiffness which then prevailed in dress. Yet he possessed much merit, and his portraits have maintained a respectable second rank.' In 1836 he sold his collection of works of art and retired to Hampstead. 'He was twice married, and had a large and highly accomplished family.' His wife, Lady Beechey, was an artist who painted miniatures with ability. His sons, Frederick William, George D., and Henry William, are separately noticed. In the print room of the British Museum are two of Sir William Beechey's drawings landscape studies, sketched freely with a pen. Amongst his most distinguished sitters (besides royal personages) were the Marquis Cornwallis, Earl St. Vincent, John Kemble, David Wilkie, and Joseph Nollekens. Outside the region of portraiture one of Sir William Beechey's most important pictures (as well as his own favourite) was the 'Infant Hercules.' The painter afterwards, with happy versatility, copied the same picture, and made it do duty as 'John the Baptist.' Sir William Beechey died on 28 Jan. 1839 at the age of eighty-six.
[Gent. Mag. April 1839; Dayes's Works, 1807; Pilkington's Dict. of Painters; Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists of the English School; Redgraves' Century of Painters, 1866.]
BEECHING, JAMES (1788–1858), inventor of 'self-righting lifeboats, was born at Bexhill, near Hastings, in 1788, and there served an apprenticeship to boat-building. Some little time after his apprenticeship had
expired he went over to Flushing, and while
there, in 1819, built the famous smuggling
cutter known as the 'Big Jane.' On leaving
Flushing he settled at Great Yarmouth, where
he introduced the handsome build of fishing
vessel now used at that port. In 1851 attempts
were made, under the auspices of the late
Prince Consort, to revive the activity of the
Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, the affairs of
which were at a very low ebb. A prize of 100l.
for the best model of a lifeboat, and another
100l. towards defraying the cost of building,
were offered by the president of the institution, the Duke of Northumberland. Out
of 280 models sent in from all parts of the
world, many of which were displayed at the
exhibition of 1851, that on a 'self-righting'
principle, invented and exhibited by James
Beeching, was awarded the prize, and with a
few slight modifications suggested by Mr.
