Henry Beeke (6 January 1751 – 9 March 1837) was an English historian, theologian, writer on taxation and finance, and botanist. He is credited with helping to introduce the world's first modern

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

Career

Beeke was elected a scholar of Corpus Christi,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in May 1769. He gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1773, a Master of Arts degree in 1776, a Bachelor of Divinity in 1785, and a Doctorate in Divinity in 1800. In 1775 Beeke became a fellow of Oriel College and was Junior Proctor of the university in 1784. Beeke was Regius Professor of Modern History between 1801 and 1813. Beeke was vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford in 1782, rector of Ufton Nervet, Berkshire in 1789, Dean of Bristol in 1813, and vicar of Weare in 1819. Beeke gained a reputation as a fiscal expert following his 1799 ''Observations on the produce of the income tax, and on its proportion to the whole income of Great Britain'', which was expanded and reprinted in 1800. His work on taxation prompted Pitt the Younger to introduce the first

in 1799 in order to fund the British effort in the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

. Beeke's unpublished manuscripts and correspondence also show his wider interests in economics. Beekite, a distinctive form of chalcedony which occurs in the preservation of fossils by silicification, was named to honour Beeke. Beeke was very interested in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He made contributions to Lysons' '' Magna Britannia'' records, and corresponded with Sir James Edward Smith, a fellow and first president of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

. Beeke is credited as the binomial author of at least one plant species, ''Lotus pilosus'' Beeke, first described and published in Turner and Dillwyn's Botanical Guide. This species was later thought to be ''Lotus uliginosus'' Schkuhr, which is now settled as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of '' Lotus pedunculatus'' Cav., a kind of

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture, Pagan and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with f ...

. Beeke died at Torquay on 9 March 1837.

Author abbreviation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beeke, Henry 1751 births 1837 deaths British Christian theologians English historians Deans of Bristol Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford Regius Professors of History (University of Oxford)