Beverley Bland Munford (September 10, 1856 – May 31, 1910) was an American lawyer, politician, social reformer, speaker, and author in Richmond, Virginia. He served eight years in the Virginia House of Delegates and four years in the Virginia Senate.[1] He wrote a book about the causes of the American Civil War.[2]
Early life and family
Childhood and education
Beverley Bland Munford was the son of Colonel John Dunborrow Munford and the grandson of William Munford, author of "Munford's Reports" and a translator of Homer's Illiad. Beverley Bland Munford's childhood was spent on a farm near Williamsburg.[3]
On November 22, 1893, Munford married activist and educational reformer Mary-Cooke Branch Munford. Their marriage was affectionate and congenial. They loved books and music and were described by their nephew Walter Russell Bowie as sharing liberal and forward-looking impulses.[4] They had a daughter Mary Safford, born 1895 and a son, Beverly Bland Munford Jr., born 1899.[5] His grandson, B. B. Munford III, was an executive at the Richmond investment firm Davenport & Co.[6]
Career
Beverley Munford was a member of the Richmond Education Association[7] which Mary-Cooke Munford helped found.[8] He served as a member of the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary and of the Hampton Normal School.[3] Munford served on the board of directors of the Virginia Historical Society and was a vestryman at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.[3]
Extant documents include a letter he wrote to John Allen Watts June 18, 1874 about his commencement speaking engagements and activities at Fincastle.[9]James Branch Cabell's From the Hidden Way was dedicated to Munford.[10]
Random recollections by Beverley B. Munford (1905)
Address of B.B. Munford before the Euzelian and Euepian Societies at Hollins Institute, June 16, 1886 by Beverley B Munford
"Our times and the men for the times"; address of Beverley B. Munford before the Association of the Alumni of the College of William and Mary, on the occasion of the one hundred and ninety-fifth commencement exercises, July 4, 1889 by Beverley B Munford[11]