298 



BERRY BEVERLEY. 



Le Genereux to the corporation of Norwich ; by 

 whom it was suspended in St Andrew's Hall, with 

 an appropriate inscription und trophies. In the 

 inontli of Juni! following, Sir Edward conveyed the 

 Queen i>( Naples, her family and attendants, from 

 Palermo to Leghorn ; from which place lord Nelson 

 proceeded acrov- the continent on his way to Eng- 

 land, and the Foudroyunt to Minorca to relit. 

 1'reviously to the landing of the above personages, 

 her Sicilian M.IJI sty pre-ented Sir Edward with a 

 i;ld l>ox, set with brilliants, and a diamond ring. 

 Towards the latter end of the same year, he re- 

 turned to England in the Princess Charlotte fri- 

 K"te ; and during the remainder of the war he com- 

 manded the Ruby, of sixty-four guns, stationed in 

 the north sea. In the summer of 1805, Sir Edward 

 Berry was appointed to the command of the Agam- 

 emnon, of sixty-four guns; and sent to join Nel- 

 ;ieet. On his passage out, he most conspi- 

 CIIOUMV evinced his profound knowledge of seaman- 

 ship. During the night, he found himself with a 

 single ship, and that very old and of very small di- 

 mensions for her rate, in the midst of the Rochfort 

 squadron, consisting of five sail of the line, two 

 frigates, and & brig, off Cape Finisterre. He well 

 knew the value to Lord Nelson of every additional 

 ship, uninjured and without delay; and, by his 

 superior seamanship and skill, he contrived to get 

 away from them, and joined Lord Nelson a short 

 time before the great battle of Trafalgar : and he 

 had the satisfaction of knowing that his Lordship 

 and the Lords of the Admiralty highly commended 

 his conduct on this occasion. At the battle off 

 Cape Trafalgar (the 21st of October, 1805.) and 

 its unparalleled victory, which totally frustrated 

 Bonaparte's plan for invading England from Bou- 

 logne, the Agamemnon was the eighth ship of the 

 van column of the British fleet; and Sir Edward 

 Berry sustained his high and bravely earned repu- 

 tation. After that memorable event, he proceeded 

 to the West Indies in the same ship, the Agam- 

 emnon, and participated in the victory pained by 

 Sir Thomas Duckworth, on the 6th of February, 

 1806, off St Domingo. On that occasion, having 

 silenced a seventy-four-gun ship, and caused her 

 to strike her colours, he hastened to attack ano- 

 ther; when, to his great surprise, the tirst ship re- 

 hoisted her colours, and was again captured ; which 

 circumstance caused some unpleasant altercation 

 after the action. Upon his return home, the com- 

 mittee of the patriotic fund at Lloyd's presented 

 Sir Edward with a sword, value a hundred guineas, 

 also with three silver vases, commemorative of the 

 three great battles in which he had been engaged. 

 He also received two medals from the king; one 

 for the action of Trafalgar, and the other for the 

 action of St Domingo; and having previously ob- 

 tained a medal for the action of the Nile, he was 

 the only officer of his Majesty's navy who had the 

 honour of possessing three medals. At the close 

 of the same year he was created a baronet, by pa- 

 tent, dated Dec. 12, 1806. In the autumn of 181 1, 

 Sir Edward obtained the command of the Sceptre, 

 of seventy-four guns; from which ship he was re- 

 moved the next year into the Barfleur, of ninety- 

 eight guns; and again sent to the Mediterranean, 

 under Lord Exmouth. In December, 1813, he 

 was appointed to the Royal Sovereign yacht ; and 

 in the summer of the following year, he was in 

 attendance on the allied monarchs, during their 

 visit to the fleet, at Spithead. He subsequently 

 commanded the Royal George, another yacht ; and 



on the 2d January, 1815, was nominated a K. C. B. 

 At the general promotion, August 12, 1819, he 

 obtained one of the vacant colonelcies of royal ma- 

 rines; on the 19th July, 1821, was advanced to the 

 rank of rear-admiral of the blue; and subsequently 

 to that of rear-admiral of the red. For several 

 years this distinguished officer had been suffering 

 under severe illness and extreme debility, the 

 effect of paralysis, which rendered him totally in- 

 capable of taking upon himself the active duties for 

 which his distinguished talents in his profession 

 and his high character, so eminently qualified him. 

 At the restoration of peace, in 1814, he returned 

 to Norfolk, and took up his residence at Catton, 

 near Norwich ; whence after some years he pro- 

 ceeded to Bath, for the benefit of his health. 

 With the same design, the gallant baronet subse- 

 quently made a continental tour ; and lived for 

 some time at Pisa, in Italy. The hopes of re-es- 

 tablishing health were unhappily not realised ; and 

 he returned to Bath, where he expired on the 13th 

 of February, 1831 ; aged sixty-two. Sir Edward 

 Berry was remarkable for his coolness and intre- 

 pidity in carrying into action his ship, which was 

 at all times well disciplined, but without undue 

 severity and coercion. In private life he was ex- 

 emplary for strict integrity, and was a sincere 

 friend. He married, on the 12th of Dec. 1797, 

 his first cousin, Louisa, daughter of the Rev. Sam- 

 uel Forster, D. D., rector of Shotley, in Suffolk ; 

 but he died without issue, and the baronetcy has 

 consequently become extinct. 



BEVERLEY ; a market and borough-town in 

 the east riding of the county of York, 183 miles 

 N. from London, twenty-nine E. S. E. from York, 

 and nine N. E. from Hull. It consists of several 

 streets, the principal one being nearly a mile in 

 length, spacious, and terminating in an ancient 

 gateway. On the outside of this gate, the ap- 

 proach from the Driffield road is uncommonly fine, 

 there being many handsome houses, especially on 

 the north-east side. The streets are lighted and 

 well-paved, and there is a good supply of water for 

 the use of the inhabitants. The environs are very 

 agreeable and the air is considered salubrious. The 

 poorer classes of inhabitants are partially employed 

 in the manufacture of bone lace. It has a consi- 

 derable trade in coals, corn, oatmeal, malt, and 

 leather, which is much facilitated by a canal called 

 Beverley Beck, communicating with the river Hull. 

 This was brought into its present condition in 1727, 

 according to an act of parliament, but it appears to 

 have been navigable from a very early date, being 

 mentioned in the books of the corporation in 1344. 

 The market-days are Wednesday and Saturday, 

 the latter being the most important. On every 

 alternate Wednesday there is a great market for 

 sheep and horned cattle. The market-place is a 

 spacious area, of the extent of four acres, in the 

 centre of which is a stately cross supported on 

 eight pillars, each consisting of a single block of 

 free-stone. Races take place annually in June, on 

 Hurnmeadow, one of the four common pastures 

 belonging to the town, on which a commodious 

 stand has been erected. A theatre was erected 

 here in 1805, and is occasionally opened ; assemblies 

 take place frequently in a suite of rooms erected 



for the purpose Beverley comprises four parishes : 



St John, St Martin, St Mary, and St Nicholas, all 

 within the jurisdiction of the peculiar court of Be- 

 verley. The living of St John's, to which is an- 

 nexed that of St Martin's, is a perpetual curacy of 



