Author: Beloe, William
Biography:
BELOE, William (1758-1817: ODNB)
He was born in Norwich on 18 Feb. 1758 to Hannah Hedslup and her husband William Beloe, a dealer in chinaware, who had married in Norwich on 20 Feb. 1749. He studied with Dr. Samuel Parr at his Stanmore school and on 22 July 1774 he was admitted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (matric 1776, BA 1779). He became a deacon in 1780 and a priest in 1782. Parr had become headmaster of Norwich Free School and Beloe served him as undermaster from 1780-83. He was appointed curate at Taverham and at Earlham, Norfolk, in 1780 before becoming vicar at Earlham with Bowthorpe (1791-1817), rector of All Hallows in London (1797-1817), and prebendary at St. Paul’s Cathedral (1805-17). On 12 Aug. 1780 he married Mary Anne Rix (1761-1848). They had four sons and one daughter; one of the sons, Henry Parr Beloe, became a clergyman like his father. Beloe’s History of Herodotus was issued in four volumes in 1791 and made his name as a translator. In 1793 he founded BC with the Rev. Robert Nares; Beloe served as assistant editor and he continued contributing to the periodical until 1813. He also wrote prefaces to published volumes of GM. The employment Beloe most valued, deputy librarian at the British Museum, lasted just three years (1803-06) before he was dismissed when a printseller was found to have stolen quantities of valuable engravings from the museum on Beloe’s watch. The Preface to his Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books (6 vols., 1806-12) reflects on his dismissal and the distress it caused him. In Mar. 1817 he suffered a stroke from which he died on 11 Apr. at his home in Kensington Square. He was buried at St. Hallows, London. In the same year was published his Sexagenarian, supposedly edited by Thomas Rennell from a manuscript commonplace book auctioned with Beloe’s library. It caused a stir in large part because of its attack on Samuel Parr who was still alive when the book by his former pupil and colleague was issued. (ODNB 28 Mar. 2023; findmypast.co.uk 28 Mar. 2023; ancestry.co.uk 28 Mar. 2023; ACAD; CCEd; W. Beloe, “Preface,” Anecdotes, 1 [1806])