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Henry Beeke

Henry Beeke (6 January 1751 – 9 March 1837) was a historian, theologian and writer on taxation and finance.Beeke was elected a scholar of Corpus Christi, Oxford in May 1769. He gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1773, a Master of Arts degree in 1776, a Bachelor of Divinity in 1785, and a Doctorate in Divinity in 1800. In 1775 Beeke became a fellow of Oriel College and was Junior Proctor of the University in 1784. Beeke was Regius Professor of Modern History between 1801 and 1813.Beeke was vicar of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford in 1762, rector of Ufton Norcot, Berkshire in 1789, Dean of Bristol in 1813, and vicar of Weare in 1819.Beeke gained a reputation as a fiscal expert following his 1799 Observations on the produce of the income tax, and on its proportion to the whole income of Great Britain, which was expanded and reprinted in 1800. Beeke's unpublished manuscripts and correspondence also show his wider interests in economics.Beeke is remembered in the term Beekite, a distinctive form of occurrence of chalcedony, often seen in the preservation of fossils by silicification.Beeke was very interested in botany. He made contributions to Lysons' Magna Britannia records, and corresponded with Sir Edward Smith'>James Edward Smith, a fellow and first president of the Linnean Society of London. Beeke is credited as the binomial author of at least one plant species, Lotus pilosus Beeke, first described and published in Turner and Dillwyn's Botanical Guide. This species was later thought to be Lotus uliginosus Schkuhr, which is now settled as a synonym of Lotus pedunculatus Cav., a kind of trefoil.Beeke died at Torquay on 9 March 1837.