Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/285

 who seized the corn upon the ground, though he did not preach till October, and Mr. Bentham had paid the taxes to that harvest,' His dedication of his 'Two Breife but Usefull Treatises' to Thomas Tyringham of Neather Wickenden, county of Buckinghamshire, informs us that it was to him he was indebted for a 'quiet haven' in which after his 'boisterous and tempestuous storms' he had 'cast anchor' since 24 Dec. 1646; and where 'by the people's kindness,' and Tyringham's especially, he had 'comfortably and contentedly continued to the present in an hyred house,' and 'without craving and often giving' thanks, yet without being burdensome.'

The Restoration restored Bentham to his old parish of Broughton, he having been reinstalled on 29 Sept. 1660. He died on 16 April 1671, and on a stone within the altar-rails this inscription is still to be read: 'Hic jacet Josephus Bentham, Boltoni tam artibus quam moribus successor, bonis operibus dives; febre attritus āorum sat placide in D. obdormivit 16 Apr. Āo. Dni. 1671, Æt. 77.' He left in his will 40l. 'to be annually distributed for ever [interest only of course] amongst the poor on the happy day of his majesty's restoration;' also to Weekely 'x' to be given yearly in the church porch to such poor as should come to church on the 29th of May.'

 BENTHAM, SAMUEL (1757–1831), naval architect and engineer, was the youngest son of Jeremiah Bentham, an attorney of good repute, and brother of Jeremy Bentham [see ]. He was born He was born on 11 Jan. 1757, and his mother having died shortly afterwards, his father married, in 1766, the widow of the Rev. John Abbott. Samuel Bentham received his early education at Westminster, and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to the master-shipwright of Woolwich Dockyard, whom, a year or two later, he accompanied to Chatham. He is described as an industrious student in both the theory and practice of his profession, and during a few months' stay in France in 1775 he perfected himself in the French language. His inventive talent showed itself even during his apprenticeship in several small improvements in the fittings of ships, which were favourably considered by the navy board. In 1778, when just out of his time, he was invited by Captain Macbride, then commanding the Bienfaisant, to accompany him on the summer cruise of the Channel fleet, during which he had an opportunity of witnessing the battle of Ushant on 27 July, as well as of suggesting some improvements in the steering gear, and in the fitting of the guns, which were carried out under his personal superintendence. Being unable to procure any suitable employment at home, his friends advised him to travel, with a view to studying 'the ship building and naval economy of foreign powers.' Russia seemed to hold out the highest inducements, and, furnished with very strong recommendations to Sir James Harris, he arrived at St. Petersburg in May 1 80. From St Pet rsburg he travelled over the greater part of Russia, firom Archangel to the Crimea, and eastwards, through Siberia to the frontier of China, examining more especially the mines and methods of working metals, on which, on his return to St. Petersburg in October 1 782, he presented a report to the empress. Early in the next year he was offered from home a commissionership in the. navy, which, however, he declined, partly because his prospects in Russia seemed more advantageous, and principally, it would seem because his affections were settled on a young Russian lady of noble family. But the lady's father did not approve of his daughters marrying a foreigner, and, notwithstanding the friendly interest of the empress, Bentham's suit did not prosper. He was then glad to get away from St. Petersburg, and accepted the offer of Potemkin to send him to Cherson with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He afterwards settled himself at Kritchev, where the prince had a large property, and where, though some hundreds of miles from the sea, on a small tributary of the Dnieper, he was desirous of establishing a shipbuilding yard. The depth of water would not admit ships of more than 200 tons; larger vessels had to be sent down piecemeal, but, on the other hand, the abundance and cheapness of materials, and the unrestricted power conferred on Bentham, permitted him to reduce some of his ideal improvements to actual practice. 'I am at liberty,' he wrote to his father on 18 July 1784, 'to build any kind of ships, vessels, or boats, whether for war, trade, or pleasure; and so little am I confined in the mode of constructing them, that one day, in arguing with the prince about some alterations in a frigate he proposed building, to make a present of to the empress, he told me, by way of endings the discussion, that there might be twenty masts and one gun, if I pleased. Workmen and assistants I am to find where I can, and on what terms I can.'

Workmen, on any terms, were very difficult to find; some country joiners, with a few sergeants from the army as overseers, a