Admiral Richard Brydges Beechey, 1808–1895 Admiral Richard Brydges Beechey, 1808–1895 lived and painted in Kingstown for many years. He lived at Belgrave Sq North, 2 Corrig Castle Tce (Demolished, now Northumberland Park), and 110 Pembroke Rd, Ballsbridge.

Richard was the youngest son, and one of eighteen children, of another famous artist, Sir William Beechey, 1753–1839. Sir William was a court painter to the British Royalty and he painted the portraits of many of the noted people of the day. One of the portraits that he painted of Lord Nelson was reckoned by many contemporaries to be the best likeness of the famous Admiral. Richard entered the Royal Naval College as a first class volunteer in 1821, aged thirteen. He went to sea the following year in H.M.S ESPIEGLE, 18 guns, on the home station. He next served in H.M.S. OWEN GLENDOWER and then served in H.M.S. SERINGAPATNAM in the West Indies as a midshipman. His natural talent as an artist, and whatever tuition he might have had from his father, would have been supplemented by art lessons that were given to all Royal Naval midshipmen. Accurate depictions of headlands and other landfalls were a necessity during hydrographical surveying in the pre-photographic era. When he joined H.M.S. NAIAD he took part in the only action of his career during the blockade of Algiers. He played an active role in several small-boat actions. Beechey next joined H.M.S. BLOSSOM in 1825, under the command of his older brother, Captain Frederick William Beechey, for a three-year voyage of exploration around the entire Pacific Ocean.

From a lecture by Cormac Lowth