42 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



Of Beaver's family we know little. His father was a clergyman who died in 

 straitened circumstances. The father's father was Herbert Beaver, a man of wit 

 and urbanity. The mother, Jane Skeeler, was the daughter of a clergyman, Rev. 

 Thomas Skeeler. Of the sibs of Captain Philip Beaver, one brother was a major 

 and died in the East Indies, and another was a clergyman; a sister married John 

 Gillies, an author of historical works. 



r FT~ 



FAMILY HISTORY OF PHILIP BEAVER. 



I 1 (F F F), Edward Beaver, a clergyman. 



II 1 (F F), Herbert Beaver, of Oxford. II 3 (M F), Thomas 

 Skeeler, a clergyman. 



III 1 (F), James Beaver, a clergyman who studied at Oriel. 

 Ill 2 (M), Jane Skeeler. 



Fraternity of Propositus: IV 2, Beaver, a major who 



died in the East Indies. IV 3, James Beaver, a clergyman. IV 5, 

 John Gillies, a Scottish historian. IV 6 (Propositus), PHILIP TV" 

 BEAVER. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



SMYTH, W. 1829. The Life and Services of Captain Philip Beaver, late of his Majesty's Ship 

 Nisus. London: J. Murray. 



5. CHARLES WILLIAM DE LA POER BERESFORD. 



LORD CHARLES WILLIAM DE LA POER BERESFORD was born in Ireland in 

 1846, the second son of the fourth Marquis of Waterford. He entered the Brit- 

 annia as a naval cadet in 1859; became lieutenant in 1868 and commander in 1875. 

 He was in Parliament 1874-1880, as a conservative with special interest in naval 

 administration. In command of the Condor, 1882, on the occasion of the Egyp- 

 tian crisis, he won lasting renown and a captaincy by taking his ship in close to 

 the forts and engaging them with conspicuous gallantry. He served in Egypt in 

 1884-1885, under Lord Wolseley, and commanded a naval brigade. He returned 

 to Parliament in 1885, and in 1886 he became lord of the admiralty and worked for 

 a stronger navy, but, not receiving adquate support, he resigned in 1888 with dra- 

 matic effect. In the House he succeeded in putting through the naval defense 

 act of 1889. For four years more he was on the Mediterranean and then in com- 

 mand of the steam reserve at Chatham. Rear admiral in 1897, he alternated 

 between Parliament, a mission to China on behalf of commerce and, in 1905, the 

 command of squadrons and fleets; in 1906 he became a full admiral. He has 

 stood always for a large increase in the English navy. 



Charles Beresford's great daring was evidenced as a cadet and shown in his 

 attack on Alexandria. At the Falkland Islands he found delight in shooting; at 

 Vancouver he went hunting by canoe and stalked deer at night; in China he 

 went out pig-sticking and tiger-shooting. He was always taking hazardous 

 chances and won bets that involved courage and daring. This daring is shown 

 in his brothers also. He says of them: ' The five brothers were keen sportsmen, 

 hard riders, men of their hands, high-couraged, adventurous." John, his 

 eldest brother, became crippled while hunting. William won the Victoria Cross 

 by cool and audacious gallantry in the Zulu war of 1879 and was renowned for 

 his reckless hardihood. "There was hardly a bone in his body which he had not 

 broken." "He might have been a great soldier, a great diplomat, a great political 



