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Darwin Correspondence Project

John Beck

1801–73

Banker. Baptised by the Reverend George Augustus Case at the Unitarian Church, High Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 20 July 1801. Attended Case’s day-school in Shrewsbury with Erasmus Alvey Darwin, then Shrewsbury School, leaving in 1816. Married Susanna Margaret Badger in the parish church of Ellesmere, Shropshire, in 1824; their three children were also baptised in the Church of England. A partner in the Shrewsbury and Welshpool Bank, Shrewsbury; retired between 1829 and 1831. By 1841 he was living apart from his family. Left an estate valued at under £100.

Sources

Census returns of England and Wales 1841 (The National Archives: Public Record Office HO 107/925/65), 1851 (HO 107/1992/749)

Commercial directory for Shropshire

Death certificate, district of St Chad, Shrewsbury, 15 February 1873

letter from John Beck, 6 October 1864

Parish records, Shropshire Records and Research Centre (Shrewsbury High St. baptism register, 20 July 1801; Ellesmere marriage register, 30 March 1824; Shrewsbury St Julian baptism register, 12 March 1825; Meole Brace baptism register, 30 September 1829, 1 April 1831; Will of John Beck, 1873/257)

Shrewsbury School register

Bibliography

Commercial directory for Shropshire: Pigot & Co.’s national commercial directory; 1828–9; comprising a directory and classification of the merchants, bankers, professional gentlemen, manufacturers and traders, in all the cities, towns, sea-ports, and principal villages in the following counties, viz. Cheshire Derbyshire Nottinghamshire Shropshire. London and Manchester: J. Pigot & Co. 1828–9.

Shrewsbury School register: Shrewsbury School register. 1734–1908. Edited by J. E. Auden. Oswestry: Woodall, Minshall, Thomas and Co., Caxton Press. 1909.

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