Samuel Beazley (1786–1851) was a London architect, novelist and playwright.

He was born in Westminster, the son of Samuel Beazley, a manufacturer of accessories for the Army, and his wife Ann (née Frith). He received his architectural training in the office of Charles Beazley, his father's brother. He went on to fight in the Peninsular War, returning to become the leading theatrical architect of his day.^[1]

A resident of Soho Square, he designed the St James's Theatre, the Lyceum Theatre, London, the City of London Theatre in Norton Folgate (all in the 1830s) and the Royalty Theatre in 1840, as well as the Strand front of the Adelphi Theatre, and the Russell Street colonnade of the Drury Lane (1831), among many others.^[1] His experience as a playwright gave him an appreciation for theatre design, and his architectural work for the theatre was praised for its appropriateness to the requirements of theatrical space.

Beazley wrote over one hundred plays, mostly farces and short comedies. The Roué... In three Volumes... (1828) was one of his two novels.^[1]

In his will he divides the bulk of his considerable fortune between his wife Marianne (or Maria, or Mary) Beazley (née Joseph), whom he appears to have married in the decade before 1846: and his sister Emily Beazley. He makes further bequests to the children of his sister Nancy, wife of Edward Tribe. In codicils, sometimes revoked, he also makes provision for children in the care of several different women.

According to a notice inserted in The Times he died "after a few hours' illness" at Tunbridge, Kent on 13 October, 1851, "in his 66th year".

[edit] References

• Theatre London: An Architectural Guide, Edwin Heathcote, ISBN 1-84166-047-7
• Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950, Earl, John and Michael Sell pp. 268 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
• The Times, Wednesday October 15, 1851: p. 7, col. D (Issue 20933)
• Public Record Office (U.K.), Will of Samuel Beazley

[edit] External links

• Encyclopedia entry

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