William Roxby Beverly
William Roxby Beverly or Beverley (c.1810–1889) was an English theatrical scene painter, known also as an artist in oils and watercolour. William John Lawrence, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, considered him second only to Clarkson Stanfield among British scene painters of the 19th century. Early life He born around 1810 at Richmond, Surrey into a theatrical family, one of four sons and one daughter of William Roxby (1765–1842), an actor-manager, whose took the stage name of William Roxby Beverl(e)y (the name deriving from the town of Beverley, for which the family had great affection); he was the youngest, Henry Roxby Beverley, Robert Roxby and Samuel Roxby being elder brothers. Under his father's management of the Theatre Royal, Manchester, in 1830, he painted a notable scene of the "Island of Mist" for the dramatic romance The Ice Witch, or the Frozen Hand, an early play of John Baldwin Buckstone. The effect is thought to have been achieved by the use of gauze. When in 1831 his father and his brothers Samuel and Robert Roxby took over the control of the Durham circuit, Beverley joined them, and for a few seasons played heavy comedy besides painting scenery. In December 1838