Thomas Beale (c. 1775–1841) was a Scottish naturalist, opium speculator and general merchant operating in the
Far East
The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...
during the 19th century.
Biography
Thomas was the younger brother of
Daniel Beale
Daniel Beale (1759–1842) was a Scottish merchant and fur trader active in the Far East mercantile centres of Bombay, Canton and Macau as well as at one time the Prussian consul in China.
Biography
Daniel Beale was the purser of, succes ...
and the cousin of
Thomas Chaye Beale.
He is first mentioned as one of the five unofficial foreign residents in
Canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative divisions
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and entertainment
* Canton (band), an It ...
in 1796 as secretary to his older brother who was 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.
[
p. 253] Thomas later became consul in his own right and served from 1798 until at least 1814. Both brothers were partners in the trading firm of
Magniac & Co., which dealt in goods including opium, cotton and tea. The Prussian consulship eventually devolved upon
Jardine, Matheson & Co. through
Hollingworth Magniac
Hollingworth Magniac (1786–1867)Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 3, p. 4138. was a merchant and conno ...
.
Known for his hospitality, Beale's mansion in Macao included a garden with 2,500 potted plants and an aviary that became a must-see for Western visitors to Macau. The aviary contained hundreds of rare birds from China, Europe, Southeast Asia, and South America. George Vachell, chaplain to 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 ...
described a visit during which he saw about six hundred birds to his friend
John Stevens Henslow
John Stevens Henslow (6 February 1796 – 16 May 1861) was an English Anglican priest, botanist and geologist. He is best remembered as friend and mentor to Charles Darwin.
Early life
Henslow was born at Rochester, Kent, the son of a solicit ...
,
Professor of Botany at Cambridge University and mentor to
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
. When the missionary cum naturalist
George Bennett stopped in Macau during his Pacific voyage, Beale's garden and aviary made such an impression that he devoted forty-five pages of his travelogue to describing their contents. The house was described by a contemporary as "one of the finest of the old Portuguese houses ... on a narrow street known as Beale's Lane". Of Beale's aviary, contemporary visitor
William Wightman Wood William Wightman Wood ( ?1804 – ?) was an American journalist, businessman, naturalist and poet based in Macau and Canton, China.
Biography
He was the son of celebrated actors William B. Wood and Juliana Westray Wood.
In 1827, W ...
wrote:
in particular I may mention the bird-of-paradise
The birds-of-paradise are members of the Family (biology), family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species are found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and eastern Australia. The family has 45 species in 17 genera. T ...
. A splendid living specimen is in the possession of Mr. Beale almost domesticated. It feeds from the hand of its amiable owner without fear, and appears capable of being rendered perfectly tame and familiar. This is perhaps the only specimen at present existing in confinement."
After offering opium
futures
Futures may mean:
Finance
*Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract
*Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded
*''Modern Trader'', formerly Futures, an American finance magazine
Music
* ''Futures' ...
as security for loans in a falling market and investing millions of dollars in illicit deals in Brazil, he ended up owing the East India Company some 800,000
dollars
Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...
. In 1816, Thomas was declared insolvent in the "most sensational bankruptcy of the period".
Bankruptcy notwithstanding, Thomas' amiability made him Lady Elizabeth Napier's favourite among the Europeans in Macau in 1834 and he later subscribed 20 pounds sterling for a memorial to her husband the late
William John, Lord Napier, first Chief Superintendent of Trade at Canton, so appointed following the abolition of the East India Company's monopoly on Far Eastern trade.
The body of Thomas was found washed ashore at Casilha Bay, near Macau in January 1841,
after he allegedly committed suicide.
Thomas Beale is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of East Asian turtle, ''
Sacalia bealei''.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Beale", p. 20).]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beale, Thomas
Scottish businesspeople
History of foreign trade in China
1770s births
1841 deaths
19th-century Scottish merchants