Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche

Eminent English geologist, son of Thomas de la Beche (will proved 1806), from whom he inherited estates in Jamaica. Owner of Halse Hall and Hanbury Pen in Clarendon, the compensation for both of which was paid to the Hibbert family firm as mortgagees. Given as 'Henry delaBiche' in many of the Slave Registers. Instrumental in the founding of the Geological Museum (now part of the Natural History Museum) and the Royal School of Mines (now part of Imperial College London) - see Cultural legacies. Note that Henry De la Beche's cultural legacies extend far beyond his founding of institutions or surveys, encompassing the influence of his artistic and scientific approaches to his work. The Historical legacies section gives only a small selection of the most important of his publications.

1. Sir Henry Thomas de la Beche has an entry in the ODNB as 'geologist' which details his career. As far as de la Beche's connections with slavery are concerned, the entry says that 'In 1800 the family travelled to Jamaica having inherited a slave plantation': Thomas de la Beche the father died in Jamaica the following year and the family returned to England. 'After coming of age De la Beche began to receive the income from the Jamaican estate'. De la Beche 'concerned by declining revenue from his inheritance and growing instability in Jamaica', himself went back to Jamaica to spend a year on his estate in 1823-1824. 'He supported paternalistic reforms of slavery, but opposed abolition. His pamphlet, Notes on the Present Condition of the Negroes (1825), idealized the situation and stressed his own good practice, attempting to view the issue simply as one of ‘facts’. Privately, however, he recognized that he was likely to lose his property.' 'In the early 1830s the income from Jamaica failed entirely.'

2. De la Beche was a keen observer, an accurate draftsman, imaginative illustrator and witty caricaturist. His drawings contributed to the science of geology by accurate representations of rock and fossil specimens, maps and geological sections, before the days of photography. An example is his drawing of the head of an ichthyosaur found in Lyme Regis by Mary Anning and included in his joint publication with William Coneybeare (1821). His drawings could bring to life ancient scenes, especially his Duria Antiquior (Ancient Dorset); this was an early 'Jurassic Park' type illustration of the flora and fauna of that period, eating each other and defecating. This was used by William Buckland at Oxford to enliven his lectures. A prominent theme in this drawings was of the 'light of science' dispelling the darkness of ignorance; one representation was of a bonneted woman shining a lamp on to a globe shrouded in clouds. Thus his artwork contributed in many ways to the advancement of the science of geology.

3. De la Beche was not a theoretician. He believed in collecting detailed facts before rushing to devise theories. Nevertheless, his observations, maps and drawings contributed to the development of geological theories by his close association with academics, notably Buckland and Coneybeare of Oxford University, and also with those of continental universities, who utilised his findings in their theoretical debates. His work therefore contributed to the revolution, in the first half of the nineteenth century, of our ideas of the history of the world and of mankind's place in it, moving from a literal Biblical concept to a one more akin to our modern view of a much older earth with a slowly evolving landscape, flora and fauna.

4. Will of Sir Henry Thomas de la Beche late of Lyme Regis but currently residing at Swansea proved 04/06/1855. The will begins with a recital that his father Thomas de la Beche in his will made in 1800 left to Henry Thomas de la Beche as tenant-for-life 'certain estates in the Island of Jamaica' 'therein specifically mentioned the Negro and other slaves thereon' subject to a mortgage of £30,000, which had clearly been raised for the benefit of the family in England rather than to finance the estate: as the principal of the mortgage was repaid from the produce of the estate, the funds were released, including £6000 as part of Henry Thomas de la Beche's marriage settlement.

5. Henry Thomas de la Beche's will makes his daughter Elizabeth his primary legatee but also provided for £3750 in trust a daughter called Rosalie Torre, whom he describes as born near Taunton in 1834, and £1250 in trust for 'my trusty servant' Elizabeth Kendall. According to his entry in the ODNB, De la Beche and his wife had separated in 1826, when he gained custody of 'his two daughters.' In 1851, Elizabeth Kendall aged 34 born Cornwall, living with Henry Thomas de la Beche and Rosalie de la Beche at 3 Blandford Place London, was described as 'companion' and de la Beche as widower and 'Inspector-General of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom' 'K.C.B.' Henry Thomas de la Beche's daughter Elizabeth married Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn, grandson of the 18th century anti-slavery campaigner William Dillwyn: Lewis Llewellyn Dillwyn himself, an 'advanced radical', is in the ODNB as 'industrialist and politician' The entry identifies Elizabeth Dillwyn as Henry Thomas de la Beche's only legitimate daughter, and pays tribute to her influence in the design of the Etruscan ware produced by Dillwyn's family firm.

1. J. A. Secord, ‘Beche, Sir Henry Thomas De la (1796–1855)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1891, accessed 22 Jan 2015].

2. Text from Gillian Allen, email 14/06/2019 sourced to: L. J. Chubb, 'Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche' in Stephen K. Donovan (ed.), Jamaican Rock Stars, 1823-1971: The Geologists who Explored Jamaica (2008) pp. 9-13; P. McCartney, Henry de la Beche: Observations on an Observer (1977); N. A. Rupke, The Great Chain of History: William Buckland and the English School of Geology 1814 - 1849 (1983); T. Sharpe and P. McCartney, 'The papers of Henry de la Beche in the National Museum of Wales. National Museum of Wales', Geological Series no.17, Cardiff (1998).

3. Text and sources as for 2., above.

4. PROB 11/2213/235.

5. Ancestry.com, 1851 England census; David Painting, ‘Dillwyn, Lewis Llewelyn (1814–1892)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47114, accessed 22 Jan 2015].

We are very grateful to Gillian Allen for her assistance with compiling this entry.