Mary Beever

Mary Beever (1802 – 31 December 1883) was a British artist and botanist. She and her sister were close friends with their neighbour John Ruskin in the Lake District. Plants collected by Beever are in several museum collections. She was an elected member of the Botanical Society of London.

Life Beever was born in Ardwick, in Manchester. Her father, William Beever, was a Manchester businessman and their mother, Nanny, died while she was young. She corresponded with botanist John Gilbert Baker, and sent Gentiana pneumonanthe specimens to William Baxter, curator at Oxford Botanic Garden. Her father died in 1831. Her brother John installed water power for a family printing press and a pond was created where he experimented with different fish foods. Her sister Anne died in 1858 and her brother, John, died the following year. She shared the house with her sister Susan after their sister Margaret died in 1874.

Beever died at their home in Coniston in 1883.