Thomas Bever

Thomas Bever (baptised 1725 – 8 November 1791) was an English lawyer and legal writer. He is known also as an antiquarian scholar and patron.

Life Bever was born at Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire, the son of Thomas Bever and his wife Ann. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. 21 April 1748. At All Souls College, where he became a Fellow, he graduated bachelor of law (B.C.L.) 3 July 1753, and doctor 5 April 1758. He was admitted to Doctors' Commons 21 November 1758. He was promoted to be judge of the Cinque Ports, and chancellor of two dioceses, Lincoln and Bangor.

Bever became Admiralty Advocate in 1788. He died at his house in Doctors' Commons on 8 November 1791, unmarried. He was buried in Stratfield Mortimer church, where there was a mural monument in the chancel to his memory. Bever, on the other hand, was a follower and supporter of William Blackstone, who had been lecturing at Oxford on the English common law. The lectures, though never very popular, continued for some years.

In 1766, Bever published A Discourse on the Study of Jurisprudence, and on the Civil Law, being an Introduction to a Course of Lectures, but lacked support for the publication of his lecture series. In 1781, he brought out a volume The History of the Legal Policy of the Roman State; and of the rise, progress, and extent of the Roman Laws, which remained an unfinished work. In the mid-1750s, Bever was cataloguing the Codrington Library at All Souls College.

Bever was a bibliophile already as a young man. He took an interest in music and the fine arts: Sherwin the engraver received Bever's patronage; and the copying of the religious music of Orlando di Lasso had his support, a project carried out by Robert Didsbury in 1785. Bever composed an oratorio, Hercules, and was a friend of Charles Burney.

Legacy Bever left legal manuscripts to John Loveday the younger, and musical manuscripts to the singer John Hindle. His will shows other bequests, such as a harpsichord and music by Handel to James Bartleman. A large music library, which was soon broken up, included English composers, with a substantial collection of manuscripts by Henry Purcell, and music by Phocion Henley that Bever himself had copied.