De la Beche, Sir Henry Thomas
b. 1796-02-10
d. 1855-04-13
De La Beche was the primary authority regarding the terms of a proposed lease to mine minerals from an area near Una Point. De La Beche’s recommendations for the lease, which were requested by Richard Taylor on behalf of Gray, Easterby, and Rooney, included a shorter term, higher royalties, and further discussion regarding the terms of payment.1
De La Beche advanced quickly in the field of Geology; he became a member of the Geological Society at the age of 21 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, awarded for substantial contributions to the improvement of natural knowledge, at 23.2 He later founded the Geological Survey of Great Britain in 1835, and played a key role in the development of the Museum of Practical Geology in 1851, which housed multiple collections, the Royal School of Mines, and Geology Survey offices.3 De La Beche was knighted (K.C.B.) in 1842.4
De La Beche’s father owned a sugar plantation in Jamaica. In 1790, he changed the family name from “Beach” to “De La Beche” reflecting his understanding of his family’s genealogy before passing away when Henry was 5.5 Henry began his education with the military but left during the peace of 1815 and developed an interest in paleontology and geology shortly after.6
  • 1. De La Beche to Merivale, 28 April 1853, 4655, CO 305/4, p. 281.
  • 2. David G. Bate, Sir Henry Thomas De La Beche and the founding of the British Geological Survey, Mercian Geologist 17, no. 3 (Sept 2010): 149-65.
  • 3. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. Sir Henry Thomas De La Beche, accessed October 23, 2017.
  • 4. Shaw, William Arthur. Henry T. De La Beche, The Knights of England. A Complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, Ireland, and of knights bachelors, incorporating a complete list of knights bachelors dubbed in Ireland. (London: Sherratt and Hughes, 1906).
  • 5. Bate, Sir Henry Thomas De La Beche.
  • 6. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. Sir Henry Thomas De La Beche, accessed October 23, 2017.
Mentions of this person in the documents
The Colonial Despatches Team. De la Beche, Sir Henry Thomas. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/de_la_becke.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)