St. Vincent Beechey (7 August 1806 – 19 August 1899) was a nineteenth-century vicar of Fleetwood and Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, and later of Worsley, Lancashire. He is known for founding Rossall School at Fleetwood in 1844, and he was also president of the Manchester Photographic Society.[1] At the time of his death, it was believed that Beechey was the oldest clergyman in England, being 93 years old.[2]
Beechey was called to a meeting at the North Euston Hotel in 1844 by a young Corsican by the name of Zenon Vantini who was looking to make money through an educational insurance scheme. He had proposed two schools of five-hundred pupils in the Fylde area - one for boys, the other for girls.[8] St. Vincent soon rose to prominence in the scheme when it became apparent that any schools founded would be of Anglican foundation. The idea for a girls' school was dropped and it was decided that a school of 200 students was to open under the name of the North of England Church of England School - this later became Rossall School.[4]
Beechey had to raise funds for the opening of the new school and got the financial support of Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, The Earl of Derby as patron, the Duke of Devonshire as vice-president and Archbishop Sumner, then Bishop of Chester and later Archbishop of Canterbury, as visitor. The school opened on 22 August 1844 in the grounds of Hesketh's Rossall Hall, with a 21-year lease on the aforementioned property and an option to purchase after ten years for £7000.[4] Beechey remained on the board of governors until 1856 at which point his association became a more informal supervisory one. He continued this role until his death in 1899. His views on the early days of the school can be read in his book - Rossall School Its Rise and Progress.[9] There is a memorial to him in St Mark's churchyard, Worsley, Lancashire.