Person    | Male  Born 14/10/1794  Died 18/12/1876

Robert Besley

Alderman and Lord Mayor of London, 1869 - 70. Typefounder and and punchcutter, credited with cutting the first Clarendon, a fat typeface with thick slabs, the first ever registered typeface. 

The Fann Street Foundry was started by Robert Thorne in 1794 and bought by William Thorowgood in 1820. 

In 1838 Besley was taken into partnership in Thorowgood and Co., having been employed as a traveller there since 1826. He worked with Thorowgood until the latter's retirement in 1849 when Besley bought the firm and it became Besley and Co. When Besley created Clarendon in October 1845 he had it registered under the recently passed Ornamental Designs Act of 1842 but the typeface became so popular that its rights were soon broken by people creating knock-offs, though Clarendon is still known as the first Registered typeface. Besley retired from the type-founding business in 1861. The firm became Reed & Fox in 1866 and closed in 1906.

Besley went on to become Sheriff of the City of London in 1863 and the Lord Mayor of London in 1869.

Adeinnelson has fully researched this man and gives his family tree. He was born in Exeter and joined the Fann Street Foundry in 1820. Married Eliza Courtney in 1821. Died at his home in Wimbledon Park.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Robert Besley

Commemorated ati

Besley drinking fountain removed

This plaque surely should have been designed with the Clarendon typeface, jus...

Read More

Besley memorial fountain - lost

This drinking fountain was erected in 1878 in memory of Robert Besley, who ha...

Read More

Other Subjects

Alderman Sir Joseph Cockfield Dimsdale

Alderman Sir Joseph Cockfield Dimsdale

Sheriff of the City of London, 1894.  Born Cornhill.  Lord Mayor 1901-2. MP for the City of London from 1900 to 1906. Married Beatrice Eliza Bower Holdsworth in 1873. Our correspondent, Alicia Col...

Person, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir James Duke

Sir James Duke

Alderman of St Dunstan's ward. Lord Mayor 1848. M.P. London 1849. Born Montrose, Scotland.

Person, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration, Scotland

2 memorials
Sir John Lawrence

Sir John Lawrence

Lord Mayor of London 1664-5. 2022: The book 'The Royal African Company' by K. G. Davies (Longmans Green, 1957) contains a list of the directors of the Royal African Company. Referring to Lawrence'...

Person, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration, Race Issues

1 memorial
Sir Leslie Boyce

Sir Leslie Boyce

Sir Leslie Boyce, KBE was Lord Mayor of London 1951-2. Born in Australia. Settled in Cheltenham after WW1. Conservative Party politician.

Person, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration, Australia

1 memorial
Alan Raymond Mais, Baron Mais

Alan Raymond Mais, Baron Mais

Labour Party Life peer. Lord Mayor 1972-3. Born Southampton. After WW2 joined contractors Trollope & Colls, becoming joint-managing director and chairman in 1963 and retiring in 1968 when the ...

Person, Engineering, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Ralph H. Byatt

Ralph H. Byatt

Resident of the Central Ward, Hendon who served and died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Charles Holden

Charles Holden

Architect. Born Bolton. c.1897 he moved to London and worked briefly for C. R. Ashbee. 1899 he moved to H. Percy Adams' practice where he stayed for the rest of his career. c.1906 moved to Harmer G...

Person, Architecture

13 memorials
G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton

Writer. Born 32 Sheffield Terrace, Campden Hill, as Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Best known for the Father Brown stories. He often wrote about religion and in 1922 converted to Roman Catholicism. In l...

Person, Literature

4 memorials
Bentley House

Bentley House

NW1, Euston Road, 200, Bentley House

These large commemoration panels are situated inside the porch of Bentley House. The Richard Bentley panel is on the western side of the ...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator