Graphical version

Wellcome Library

Beke, Charles Tilstone (1800-1874)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0120 MSS.6833-6856

Held at: Wellcome Library

Title: Beke, Charles Tilstone (1800-1874)

Date(s): 1824-1910

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 14 files, 11 volumes

Name of creator(s): Beke | Charles Tilstone | 1800-1874 | explorer

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Charles Tilstone Beke was an explorer in Abyssinia.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Correspondence, papers and journals of Charles Tilstone Beke, 1824-1910, principally relating to Abyssinia and the Middle East, with papers of his wife Emily Beke (née Alston). The collection holds information on all aspects of Beke's career, from his early legal training to the search for employment and financial security of his final years. His intervening travels, geographical and biblical studies and resulting publications are documented by journals, notebooks and printed material. Correspondence includes that generated during Beke's secretaryship of the National Association for the Protection of Industry and Capital throughout the British Empire; and generally reflects a wide range of scholarly acquaintance and interests. Supplementary papers of Emily Beke record her championing of C.T. Beke's posthumous reputation, and her attempts to gain recompense for his occasional government service.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Finding aids:

Described in typescript supplements by Richard Palmer, Keith Moore, Richard Aspin and Christopher Hilton to the Library's published published manuscript catalogues.

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Most of the correspondence and Beke's copy of The idol in Horeb were purchased from Hodgson's in October 1913. The provenance and date of receipt of the journals, notebooks and printed papers is not recorded. The letter from Mansfield Parkyns was purchased at Glendining's, 17 Sept. 1934.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

At other repositories: Beke's journals and diaries for the period 1840-1843, covering his early travels in Abyssinia, are in the British Library (Add. Mss. 30247-52).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions: In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Bible | Sacred texts | Religious texts | Religious doctrines | Theology
Geographical exploration | Geography
Travel abroad | Travel
Empire
Trade

Personal names
Beke | Charles Tilstone | 1800-1874 | explorer

Corporate names

Places
Ethiopia | East Africa
Middle East