BEW, John (1743?-1793) — London
Bookseller & publisher; map and printseller. Published Frederic Hervey, ‘The naval history of Great Britain ; from the earliest times to the rising of the Parliament in 1779’ 1779, with maps; the Political Magazine 1780-1785, with over 150 maps, almost all engraved by John Lodge 2 (see BME 2011); New and correct chart of the islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, &ca. 1781, engraved by Lodge; several editions of ‘Ambulator or the stranger’s companion in a tour round London’ 1787-1793, with Twenty-five miles round London by William Palmer (see BME 2011). Also published the General Evening Post 1774-1791, music, and a wide range of books, including material on “oil-cement” or stucco, etc.
Born about 1743, the son of John Bew (d.1769) and his wife Mary (d.1760) of Oxford. Apprenticed (Stationers) to Richard Baldwin (see BME 2011) (£105) 6 Mar 1759, recorded as the son of John Bew, Innholder, of Oxford. His father ran the Bear Inn on Oxford High Street and was also a coach-master, hiring out “post chaises and able horses, at nine-pence a mile” (Oxford Journal, 4 Nov 1758). Free (Stationers) 8 Apr 1766. He married Jane Blake, with whom he had a number of children, at St. Anne & St. Agnes 17 May 1767. Bew appeared 4 Dec 1776 at the Old Bailey trial of his employee Thomas Proctor, found guilty of stealing 500 numbers of James Barclay, ‘A complete and universal English dictionary’ (enough to make up forty books). There are papers in NA relating to a case brought against him for publishing a libel on the Russian ambassador in his General Evening Post 20 Jan 1781. Bew was sentenced the three months in prison and fined £50. Insurance policies 1781-1785 in LMA — the Paternoster Row premises were insured 1778-1785 at various amounts between £300 and £2,200. He was much associated with the first John Murray (1737-1793) of the famous publishing house, who took over the publication of the Political Magazine. Bew was declared bankrupt 27 Nov 1790, with three dividends paid by 1794. Bew committed suicide by cutting his own throat with a large knife 12 Apr 1793, “not being of sound mind memory and understanding but lunatic and distracted”. His Paternoster Row neighbours, Robert Baldwin 1, Alexander Hogg, and Garnet Terry (see BME 2011) were among the jurors at the coroner’s inquest. A probate inventory is in NA — PROB 31/849/388. His widow Jane Bew continued the business briefly, reprinting the ‘Ambulator’ in 1793. His son John Bew (1768-1841) was also a publisher trading from 1790 to 1796, in partnership with Machell Stace in the Haymarket in 1790.
Warwick Lane
28 Paternoster Row — 1774-1793
Apprentices: John Bew (son) 1782; Thomas Shapter 1784 (£105); Charles Bew (son) 1787; Robert Giles 1789 (£105); Tipping Richard Bew (son) 1792.
BBTI. BM. BNA. Chubb. EWP. Harris. Howgego. Humphries & Smith. Jolly. LG. LHD. LL. LMA. Maxted. Maxted (1984). Maxted (1985). McKenzie. NA. OB. Tooley.