Close House mansion - front elevation - geograph

Calverley Bewicke (1755–1815) was a commander of the

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

and an MP for

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The ...

from 1806 to 1816.

Life

He was born on 26 June 1755 one of twelve children of Sir Robert Bewicke of Close House and

Urpeth Urpeth (Urpeth Grange) is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance from Ouston and Beamish, near the border with Tyne and Wear. The parish population taken at the 2011 census was 3,630. Urpeth started its life as a ...

, and his wife, Mary Huish daughter of Robert Huish. He was educated at the

Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne (By Learning, You Will Lead) , established = , closed = , type = Grammar SchoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Geoffrey Stanford , r_head_label = , r_head = , chair_label = , cha ...

. From 1773 he attended

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. In 1779 he rebuilt the family home of Close House following his marriage. In 1782 he was appointed Sheriff of Northumberland. From 1794 to 1805 he was Lt Colonel of the Durham Militia. He died on 24 October 1815. A memorial to Bewicke in

Newcastle Cathedral Newcastle Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, is a Church of England cathedral in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Newcastle and is the mother church of the Diocese of Newcastle. ...

was designed by

Edward Hodges Baily Edward Hodges Baily (10 March 1788 – 22 May 1867; sometimes misspelled ''Bailey'') was a prolific English sculptor responsible for numerous public monuments, portrait busts, statues and exhibition pieces as well as works in silver. He carved ...

Family

In 1777 he married Deborah Wilkinson, daughter of Thomas Wilkinson of

Brancepeth Brancepeth is a village and civil parish in County Durham, in England. It is situated about from Durham on the A690 road between Durham and Weardale. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 414. Brancepeth Castle was u ...

. She died in July 1779 (probably in childbirth). In 1781 he then married Margaret Spearman (d.1859) daughter of Robert Spearman of

Sedgefield Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham. History Roman A Roman 'ladder settlement' was discovered by C ...

. His second wife was portrayed by

Thomas Lawrence Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at ...

RA around 1785. He was grandfather to Robert Calverley Bewicke (1819-1886).Burkes Peerage

References

Sources

entry on portrait of Bewicke's wife by Sir Thomas Lawrence

External links

* 1755 births 1815 deaths Place of birth missing Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 {{England-UK-MP-stub