Beville, William

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Rev William Beville at Mr Barrell's Gt Queen St proposed 9.5.1783 by John Cartwright 2nded Jackson Barwis. Born 1755 Hempswell, Lincs, his mother Ann was a widow by 1774. Fellow of St Peter's Cambridge. In 1782 he published "Observations on Dr Johnson's Life of Hammond" in which he defended the poems of James Hammond DNB 1710-1742 against Samuel Johnson's dismissal. Hammond's poems had been written to Catherine Dashwood (d.1779) whose niece Ann had married John Cartwright in 1780, see note on p8 of Beville's pamphlet. Beville became rector of Exford Somerset in 1789, chaplain to Lord Mount Edgcumbe in 1790 and to the Duke of Manchester in 1799. On 9.2.1801 at St Marylebone he married Elizabeth, widow of William Rochford and dau of Henry Sperling of Dynes Hall, Essex (qv in Godwin Diary dataset). He died at Calcot Park, Reading. His will PCC 1822