Beal, Samuel

Samuel Beal (27 November 1825, Davenport - 20 August 1889, Greens Norton) was an Oriental scholar, and the first Englishman to translate direct from the Chinese the early records of Buddhism, thus throwing light upon Indian history. Samuel Beal was born in Davenport, near Stockport, Cheshire and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1847. He was ordained deacon in 1851, and priest in the following year. After serving as curate at Brooke in Norfolk and Sopley in Hampshire, he applied for the office of naval chaplain, and was appointed to H.M.S. Sybille during the China War of 1856-58. In...