Born Welbeck Street. An unusual childhood: his father changed their name from Beach to create a fictional connection with the medieval Barons De la Beche of Aldworth. Inheriting a slave plantation he took the family to Jamaica in 1800 but died the next year. Henry and his mother were shipwrecked on their return to England. Henry entered a military college but was thrown out for encouraging revolt amongst the cadets.
Geologist. Had a long public and furious debate with Murchison concerning fossils in Devon, in which Murchison called him a "dirty dog". Founder of the British Geological Survey.
Died London.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Henry De la Beche
Commemorated ati
Other Subjects
Sir John Cass
Tory politician, slave trader and philanthropist. Date of birth unknown so we use his date of baptism, which took place at St Botolph, Aldgate. 1705 became a director of the Royal African Company w...
Person, Philanthropy, Politics & Administration, Race Issues
Sharpeville Massacre
This took place near the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in Transvaal (today part of Gauteng). After a day of demonstrations against pass laws (these were an internal pa...
Mary Prince
First African woman to publish her memoirs of slavery. Born Bermuda. The daughter of slaves, she was first sold aged 10 for £20. Eventually bought for $300 in 1818 by John Wood who moved his whole...
Asquith Xavier
Asquith Camile Xavier was born in the West Indies. One of the Windrush generation who migrated to the UK after WW2. He died Chatham, Kent. In 1966 Xavier successfully fought to become the first bl...
Rudyard Kipling
Poet and story writer. Born: Bombay, India. Died: London. See Waterloo Free Buffet. 2021: The Guardian reported some updates to English Heritage's information on Kipling: "While his children’s sto...
Person, Literature, Poetry, Race Issues, Seriously Famous, India