EDWIN SLOPER BEAVEN COLLECTION

Contains: obituaries of E S Beaven 1941-1944; hand-written extract from Farmer and Stockbreeder which mentions Beaven 1943; correspondence between E S Beaven and Board of Agriculture 1903-1916; correspondence between E S Beaven and W S Gosset 1908-1914; correspondence relating to the sale and distribution of barley 1911-1914; analysis books relating to experiments on barley crops 1907-1943; reference and published material concerning corn, barley, cereals, brewing, 1888-1940; address given by E S Beaven entitled Pure Races of Barley 1914

Edwin Sloper Beaven (1857-1941) was one of the leading breeders of barley in the first half of the twentieth century. He was born near Heytesbury in Wiltshire and began working on his father's farm there at the age of 13. Later Beaven became a maltser in Warminster, Wiltshire. In 1894 he purchased 4 acres of land at Boreham just outside Warminster and began to carry out experimental trials of barley. One outcome of his experiments was a new variety, Plumage-Archer, which was one of the principal types of malting barley until new hybrids, such as Proctor, were introduced after the Second World War. Beaven was associated with the brewers Arthur Guinness, Son & Co who took over his malting and trial grounds after his death in 1941. Much of Beaven's work was published posthumously in the book Barley (1947)

A Biographical and Personal

B Correspondence

C Research Material

D Reference Material

E Published Work

G Copy of Address

Open for consultation

Records deposited in 1998 Accession number DX451

Compiled by Caroline Gould, 25 November 2002

A detailed catalogue is available at the Museum of English Rural Life

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