Daniel Beale (1759–1842) was a Scottish merchant and fur trader active in the Far East mercantile centres of

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, Canton and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

as well as at one time the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n consul in China.

Biography

Daniel Beale was the purser of, successively, the East India Company ships ''Walpole'' and ''General Coote'' on voyages between London and Canton in 1783-1786: in 1783 he joined the Macao partnership of

John Henry Cox John Henry Cox (c. 17505 October 1791) was an English explorer who charted Great Oyster Bay, Maria Island, and Marion Bay on the east coast of Tasmania in 1789, aboard his armed brig HMS '' Mercury''. Early years John Henry Cox was born ...

and John Reid in their mercantile ventures. Giving evidence before the British parliament's commons committee of ''Enquiry on the East India Company’s Affairs'' on 11 May 1815, Beale testified that he had been resident in Canton "from the latter end of 1787 to the middle of 1797"Online version at Google Books
and acted as "agent for many of the mercantile houses in Bombay and

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

had been sent to Canton in 1782 by his father James to sell off an accumulated stock of clocks, watches and mechanical toys
Online version at Google books
p. 13 known in Pidgin English as "singsongs", which were popular with the Chinese. Along with James Fox, the other major manufacturer of singsongs was Francis Magniac of Clerkenwell, London, whose sons Charles and

Hollingworth Hollingworth is a village in the Tameside district, in Greater Manchester, England. It is about 11 miles (19 km) east of Manchester, on the Derbyshire border near Hadfield. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and ...

would later become partners of Beale.Online version at Google Books
/ref> Merchants operating in the Far East at this time formed a bewildering array of partnerships. As well as the Coxes, Beale was also at various times a partner of John Reid, Charles Magniac and his brother Hollingworth, as well as Alexander Shank and Robert Hamilton. p.
Online version at Google books
/ref> On 15 February 1786, a

n ship arrived at Whampoa whereupon the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

's agent at Canton informed the Committee of

Supercargo A supercargo (from Italian or from Spanish ) is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on a ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the mer ...

es that Beale had shown him a letter signed by "Count Lusi, Envoy Extraordinaire to his Majesty the King of Prussia with the King of Great Britain and his Colonel of Infantry", announcing his appointment as his Prussian Majesty's Consul in China. Beale was also a member of the Associated Merchants Trading to the Northwest Coast of America, which owned the

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

''Iphigenia Nubiana'', trading on this coast in 1788 and 1789. Other partners in the venture were

John Meares John Meares (c. 1756 – 1809) was an English navigator, explorer, and maritime fur trader, best known for his role in the Nootka Crisis, which brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war. Career Meares' father was Charles Meares, "formerly a ...

, Richard C. Etches, John W. Etches, William Fitzhugh and Henry Land. Along with fellow Scotsman John Reid, Beale was also one of the owners of the

Imperial Eagle The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of ...

, a vessel ostensibly belonging to the fictitious Austrian East India Company, which sailed under the flag of Austria. This allowed her to circumvent the trade monopoly then held by the East India Company. Beale was by this time the Prussian agent in Canton following his earlier appointment as consul. Beale organized the voyage of the ''Imperial Eagle'' when he returned to London from Canton on the HCS ''General Coote'' in August 1786. By 1797, Beale & Co. had become the biggest of the country traders, dealing with clients in Bombay, Calcutta and London, in Indian cotton, sandalwood, tin, pepper Chinese tea and silk as well as opium. p. 73, pp. 128ff His firm Beale & Co. seems to have been active in the opium trade between 1783–1793. In 1797 Daniel Beale left China to join Magniac & Co. in London and in 1800 the sole British firm in Canton is recorded as Reid, Beale & Co., formerly Hamilton & Reid, and in 1804 to become Beale & Magniac.

Memorial

Beale died in England in 1842. In the gallery of

St Pancras New Church St Pancras Church is a Greek Revival church in St Pancras, London, built in 1819–22 to the designs of William Inwood, William and Henry William Inwood. The church is one of the most important 19th-century churches in England and is a Grade I ...

, London, there is a memorial to Thomas Beale of

Fitzroy Square Fitzroy Square is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square, square in London, England. It is the only one in the central London area known as Fitzrovia. The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding di ...

and of Millfield House

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Middlesex. formerly of Canton and Macao, "a most zealous promoter of the building of this Church and one of the original trustees."''Survey of London: volume 24: The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood'' (1952), pp. 1–9.
/ref> He was immortalised by the artist

Jacques-Laurent Agasse Jacques-Laurent Agasse (April 24, 1767 – December 27, 1849) was an animal and landscape painter from Switzerland. Born at Geneva, Agasse studied in the public art school of that city. Before he turned twenty he went to Paris to study in ...

in his painting ''Daniel Beale at his Farm at Edmonton with his Favourite Horse''.

Family

In 1791 he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Paul Barbot of London. She died in 1830. They had a son, also named Daniel, who was born about 1798 and died on 4 January 1827 aged 29, as well as a younger brother,

Thomas Beale Thomas Beale (c. 1775–1841) was a Scottish naturalist, opium speculator and general merchant operating in the Far East during the 19th century. Biography Thomas was the younger brother of Daniel Beale and the cousin of Thomas Chaye Beale. ...

, he had a daughter called Susanna Preston Beale (1806-1843) who married Charles Gonne, Lisbon wine merchant, and was

Maud Gonne Maud Gonne MacBride (, born Edith Maud Gonne); 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. She was of Anglo-Irish descent and was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of people evict ...

s grandmother, and a cousin, Thomas Chaye Beale.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beale, Daniel 1759 births 1842 deaths Scottish company founders 18th-century Scottish merchants 19th-century Scottish businesspeople History of foreign trade in China