I knew already that Archdeacon Bevan had been Vicar of Hay for 56 years during the 19th century, and that he had lived at Hay Castle with his family when I went to the Enchanted Hour talk at the Library, but I learned a lot about the rest of his family.
John Price has done a huge amount of research into the rest of the family, combing through newspaper articles and diary entries, including the diary of Edward Lear, who wrote a poem for one of the daughters of the family. (In fact, the talk over-ran the time slot, there was so much to pack in!)
Archdeacon Bevan was involved in just about everything that went on in Hay over that 56 years, and he had some remarkable children. One of them rose to become Bishop of Swansea and Brecon. His daughter Mary Louisa (later Mrs Dawson) wrote several books and pamphlets about local history, some of which John had brought along to show us.
Then there was Willy. William Armine Bevan was a successful businessman - he even owned shares in a gold mine! He organised shows at Olympia in Kensington, and had a keen interest in music. He knew several leaders of military bands. He moved in the same circles as people like Noel Coward. He also enjoyed yachting, from the Weymouth Yacht Club (where his brother the Bishop died unexpectedly while visiting him). Almost nothing is known about him - this was all pieced together from snippets, but a full biography of him would make fascinating reading!
It was a very interesting talk, and it would probably be possible to do a full talk about each of the Archdeacon's children, who all seemed to have lived full and interesting lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment