Daniel Beale (1759–1842) was a Scottish merchant and fur trader active in the Far East mercantile centres of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, Canton and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

as well as at one time the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n consul in China.

Biography

Daniel Beale was the purser of, successively, the East India Company ships ''Walpole'' and ''General Coote'' on voyages between London and Canton in 1783-1786: in 1783 he joined the Macao partnership of

John Henry Cox John Henry Cox (c. 17505 October 1791) was an English explorer who charted Great Oyster Bay, Maria Island, and Marion Bay on the east coast of Tasmania in 1789, aboard his armed brig HMS '' Mercury''. Early years John Henry Cox was born c. ...

and John Reid in their mercantile ventures. Giving evidence before the British parliament's commons committee of ''Enquiry on the East India Company’s Affairs'' on 11 May 1815, Beale testified that he had been resident in Canton "from the latter end of 1787 to the middle of 1797"Online version at Google Books
and acted as "agent for many of the mercantile houses in Bombay and

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

had been sent to Canton in 1782 by his father James to sell off an accumulated stock of clocks, watches and mechanical toys
Online version at Google books
p. 13 known in Pidgin English as "singsongs", which were popular with the Chinese. Along with James Fox, the other major manufacturer of singsongs was Francis Magniac of Clerkenwell, London, whose sons Charles and

Hollingworth Hollingworth is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is about 11 miles (19 km) east of Manchester on the Derbyshire border near Glossop. Historically part of Cheshire, it gave its name to ...

would later become partners of Beale.Online version at Google Books
/ref> Merchants operating in the Far East at this time formed a bewildering array of partnerships. As well as the Coxes, Beale was also at various times a partner of John Reid, Charles Magniac and his brother Hollingworth, as well as Alexander Shank and Robert Hamilton. p.
Online version at Google books
/ref> On 15 February 1786, a

n ship arrived at Whampoa whereupon the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

's agent at Canton informed the Committee of

Supercargo A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchand ...

es that Beale had shown him a letter signed by "Count Lusi, Envoy Extraordinaire to his Majesty the King of Prussia with the King of Great Britain and his Colonel of Infantry", announcing his appointment as his Prussian Majesty's Consul in China. Beale was also a member of the Associated Merchants Trading to the Northwest Coast of America, which owned the

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

''Iphigenia Nubiana'', trading on this coast in 1788 and 1789. Other partners in the venture were

John Meares John Meares (c. 1756 – 1809) was an English navigator, explorer, and maritime fur trader, best known for his role in the Nootka Crisis, which brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war. Career Meares' father was Charles Meares, "formerly an ...

, Richard C. Etches, John W. Etches, William Fitzhugh and Henry Land. Along with fellow Scotsman John Reid, Beale was also one of the owners of the

Imperial Eagle The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of ...

, a vessel ostensibly belonging to the fictitious Austrian East India Company, which sailed under the flag of Austria. This allowed her to circumvent the trade monopoly then held by the East India Company. Beale was by this time the Prussian agent in Canton following his earlier appointment as consul. Beale organized the voyage of the ''Imperial Eagle'' when he returned to London from Canton on the HCS ''General Coote'' in August 1786. By 1797, Beale & Co. had become the biggest of the country traders, dealing with clients in Bombay, Calcutta and London, in Indian cotton, sandalwood, tin, pepper Chinese tea and silk as well as opium. p. 73, pp. 128ff His firm Beale & Co. seems to have been active in the opium trade between 1783–1793. In 1797 Daniel Beale left China to join Magniac & Co. in London and in 1800 the sole British firm in Canton is recorded as Reid, Beale & Co., formerly Hamilton & Reid, and in 1804 to become Beale & Magniac.

Memorial

Beale died in England in 1842. In the gallery of

St Pancras New Church St Pancras Church is a Greek Revival church in St Pancras, London, built in 1819–22 to the designs of William and Henry William Inwood. Location The church is on the northern boundary of Bloomsbury, on the south side of Euston Road, at the ...

, London, there is a memorial to Thomas Beale of

Fitzroy Square Fitzroy Square is a Georgian square in London. It is the only one in the central London area known as Fitzrovia. The square is one of the area's main features, this once led to the surrounding district to be known as Fitzroy Square or Fitzro ...

and of Millfield House

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Middlesex. formerly of Canton and Macao, "a most zealous promoter of the building of this Church and one of the original trustees."''Survey of London: volume 24: The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood'' (1952), pp. 1–9.
/ref> He was immortalised by the artist Jacques-Laurent Agasse in his painting ''Daniel Beale at his Farm at Edmonton with his Favourite Horse''.

Family

In 1791 he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Paul Barbot of London. She died in 1830. They had a son, also named Daniel, who was born about 1798 and died on 4 January 1827 aged 29, as well as a younger brother, Thomas Beale, and a cousin, Thomas Chaye Beale.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beale, Daniel Scottish businesspeople History of foreign trade in China 1759 births 1842 deaths