Silvanus Bevan
Silvanus Bevan (1691–8 June 1765) was an apothecary, who founded the successful firm of Allen & Hanburys.
He was born into a prosperous Welsh Quaker family. His father was also called Silvanus Bevan (1661–1727). His mother was Jane Bevan (born Phillips).[1]
He left Swansea as a young man and moved to Cheapside, in London.
He obtained his "Freedom" from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in 1715 having served his seven years’ apprenticeship with Thomas Mayleigh. He established his Pharmacy at Number Two Plough Court, Lombard Street[1] in one of whose rooms Alexander Pope, the poet, had been born in 1688.[2] William Cookworthy was one of his apprentices.[3]
On 9 November 1715, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Daniel Quare, the royal clockmaker at a Friends' meeting-house in the City.[4] His wedding was attended by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, Lord Finch, Lady Cartwright, William Penn, the Venetian ambassador and his wife.[5] Elizabeth died soon after their marriage in giving birth to a son, who lived but a few hours. Silvanus subsequently married Martha Heathcote, by whom he had no children.[6]
His business prospered and he was joined by his younger brother, Timothy Bevan (1704–1786) in 1725. Timothy, continued the Plough Court Pharmacy after his brother's retirement. He was succeeded by his son, Joseph Gurney Bevan (1753–1854) [7]. In the nineteenth century, under William Allen and the Hanbury family, Allen & Hanburys became one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in London.[8]
In 1725, Silvanus Bevan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on the proposal of Isaac Newton.[9] In 1743 his letter entitled “An Account of an Extraordinary Case of the Bones of a Woman Growing Soft and Flexible”, was printed in their Philosophical Transactions. It describes his findings having performed a post-mortem examination.[10]
Silvanus Bevan was a skilled carver of ivory and several busts of well-known men are still in existence (he sent one to Lord Cobham, when he was seeking likenesses for statues for his garden at Stowe House.[11]
Having retired, an interest in Welsh antiquities brought him into contact with Richard Morris and there are references to him in the Morris Letters[12] He was described as being a dilettante, a collector of fossils, curios, books and paintings and a keen gardener. Although he spoke Welsh very badly in 1762 he was elected a member of the Cymmrodorion.[13].
Bevan died in Hackney on 5 June 1765 and was buried at the Bunhill Fields burial-ground.
Further reading
- The Monthly Record, 15 March 1873, No 46, Vol IV.
- (The Morris Letters)The letters of Lewis, Richard, William and John Morris of Anglesey, ed. J. H. Davies, 2 vols. (1907–9).
- Audrey Nona Gamble, A History of the Bevan Family (1923).
- "The Quaker family of Bevan", Journal of the Friends' Historical Society, 22 (1925).
- A. A. Locke and A. Esdaile, Plough Court: the story of a notable pharmacy, 1715–1927, rev. E. C. Cripps (1927).
- Desmond Chapman-Huston and E. C. Cripps, Through a City Archway: the story of Allen and Hanburys, 1715–1954 (1954).
- John Nickalls, 'Some Quaker Portraits, Certain and Uncertain', in The Journal of the Friends Historical Society, Supplement no.29, 1958, 10-12.
- Hugh Tait, 'Wedgwood, Flaxman, and an English eighteenth-century portrait carver, Silvanus Bevan.' Proceedings of the Wedgwood Society, No 3 1959. pp. 126–132.
- J. Burnby, ‘A study of the English apothecary from 1660 to 1760’, Medical History, suppl. 3 (1983) [whole issue].
- Geoffrey Tweedale, At the Sign of the Plough: 275 years of Allen & Hanburys and the British pharmaceutical industry, 1715–1990 (1990) ISBN 0719547865.
- Jonathan Marsden, 'William Penn and Sir Francis Dashwood’s Sawmill'. Georgian Group Journal, vol. VIII 1998, pp. 143–150.
References
- ^ a b ODNB article by Geoffrey Tweedale, ‘Bevan, Silvanus (1691–1765)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [1], accessed 10 March 2008.
- ^ (Chapman-Huston 1954,15).
- ^ William Cookworthy 1705-1780: a study of the pioneer of true porcelain manufacture in England by John Penderill-Church, Truro, Bradford Barton (1972).
- ^ The Gracechurch Street Meeting House (Gamble 1923, 28-29).
- ^ The ODNB article on Quare states:"The weddings [of Daniel Quare's daughters] were lavish affairs attended by nobility, foreign ambassadors and envoys, and leading Quakers including William Penn and George Whitehead": ODNB article by E. L. Radford, ‘Quare, Daniel (1648/9–1724)’, rev. Jeremy Lancelotte Evans, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [2], (accessed 10 March 2008).
- ^ (Gamble 1923, 30).
- ^ For J.G. Bevan see Edward H. Milligan The Biographical dictionary of British Quakers in commerce and industry, 1775-1920 Sessions of York (2007) ISBN 978-1-85702-367-7 , p.47 and ODNB article by David J. Hall, ‘Bevan, Joseph Gurney (1753–1814)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [3], accessed 14 Jan 2009.
- ^ See (Chapman-Huston 1954)
- ^ See "Silvanus Bevan" on Welsh Biography Online - http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-BEVA-SIL-1691.html
- ^ Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Volume 42, pp. 488-490.
- ^ See (Marsden 1998, 148) which refers to a letter from Benjamin Franklin to Lord Kames in 1760. See also the account in "William Penn" by John W. Graham.
- ^ (ibid. ii, 265, 336-7, 416).
- ^ See "Silvanus Bevan" on Welsh Biography Online.
Notes
There were three prominent Silvanus Bevans in the family.
- Silvanus (I)(1661–1725) the father of the subject of this entry was a burgess of the City of Swansea.
- Silvanus (II) (1691–1765) the apothecary, and
- Silvanus (III) (1743–1830), son of Timothy Bevan, the brother of Silvanus Bevan (II), was one of the founders of Barclay's Bank and partner of Thrale's Anchor Brewery. He was a grandson of Silvanus (I) and the great grandfather of Robert Polhill Bevan, the artist.
Persondata |
Name |
Bevan, Sylvanus |
Alternative names |
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Short description |
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Date of birth |
1691 |
Place of birth |
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Date of death |
1765 |
Place of death |
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