BEVAN
,
SILVANUS
(
1691
-
1765
),
Quaker physician
,
was a member of a
Swansea
family, and (according to
Morris Letters
, ii, 336) was related to
Arthur
Bevan
(q.v. on p. 34)
. A
William
Bevan
, a
Quaker
of
Swansea
, was imprisoned in
1658
, and d. in
1701
, aged 74. His son,
Silvanus
Bevan
(
1661
-
1725
), m.
Jane
Phillips
of
Swansea
in
1685
, and had several sons, two of whom moved to
London
. The elder,
SILVANUS
BEVAN
, is the subject of this notice. He
set up a pharmacy
at
Plough Court
,
Lombard Street
, but later
practised physic
at
Hackney
. In
1725
he had been elected
F.R.S.
on the proposal of
Isaac
Newton
. A belated
interest in Welsh antiquities
brought him (now a retired man) in
1760
into contact with
Richard
Morris
(q.v.)
; and there are references to him in the
Morris Letters
(more especially ii, 265, 336-7, 416) which give us a picture of him: a dilettante; a
collector of fossils, curios, books, paintings, etc.
; an
amateur wood-carver
; and a keen
gardener
.
Morris
calls him ‘a bachelor’; he was in fact a widower, for in
1715
he had m.
Elizabeth
, daughter of
Daniel
Quare
, the famous
clock-maker
(
1648
-
1724
, q.v. in
D.N.B.
). He was in
1761
‘eighty years of age,’ says
Morris
rather wildly, but his ‘intellects’ and his love of reading were unimpaired, though he was
‘slovenly and with trembling hands.’
He spoke
Welsh
only very brokenly, had never seen a
Welsh
manuscript, and was ‘surprised to hear we had any.’ However, in
1762
he was elected a member of the
Cymmrodorion
.
TIMOTHY
BEVAN
, his brother, succeeded him in the
Plough Court
business — which was the lineal ancestor of the firm of
Allen and Hanbury
. He m. as his second wife
Hannah
, daughter of
John
Gurney
, and was the father of
JOSEPH
BEVAN
(
1753
-
1814
), who carried on the business but is better known as a
writer on Quakerism
and is commemorated in
D.N.B.
Bibliography:
-
T. M. Rees
,
,
1925
, 79, 90, 267;
-
(see above);
-
;
1925
, 15-17.
Author:
Corrections and additions:
BEVAN
,
SILVANUS
(
DWB
, 35).
It was in
1715
that he opened his shop at
2 Old Plough Court
(
Oxford Street
). He m. (2),
Martha
Heathcote
. He took a great interest in
America
; both he and his brother played a considerable part in
establishing the first hospital
at
Philadelphia
. His brother
Timothy
's dates are
1704
-
1786
.
