Beriah Botfield

Beriah Botfield FRSE FRS FSA FRGS (5 March 1807 – 7 August 1863) was a British Member of Parliament representing Ludlow in Shropshire. He was also a Conservative Party politician. He was also a noted bibliographer, geologist and botanist.

He was born on 5 March 1807 in Earl's Ditton, Shropshire, the son of Beriah Bitfield (brother of Thomas Botfield, F.R.S.) of Norton Hall (died 1813) and Charlotte Withering. He was educated at Harrow School and then Christ Church College, Oxford University, graduating BA in 1828.

He inherited the family's extensive coal mining and ironmaking business, which was based in Shropshire. Perhaps not so surprisingly, Beriah Botfield entered into political affairs.

In 1831 he became High Sheriff of Northamptonshire.

In 1840, Beriah was elected as a Member of Parliament for Ludlow in a by-election and held the seat until a defeat in the 1847 general election. He did manage to regain the position when he was re-elected in 1857, and continued to serve until his death in 1863. In 1858, he had erected a stone cross near the Wales–England border on Shadwell Hill, to commemorate a pedlar named William Cantlin who was robbed and murdered there in 1691.

Botfield was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in January 1839. He was president of the British Archaeological Association.

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