Daniel Beale

Daniel Beale (1759–1842) was a Scottish merchant and fur trader active in the Far East mercantile centres of Bombay, Canton and Macau as well as at one time the Prussian consul in China.

[1] Giving evidence before the British parliament's commons committee of Enquiry on the East India Company’s Affairs on 11 May 1815, Beale testified that he had been resident in Canton "from the latter end of 1787 to the middle of 1797"[2] and acted as "agent for many of the mercantile houses in Bombay and Bengal."

John Henry Cox had been sent to Canton in 1782 by his father James to sell off an accumulated stock of clocks, watches and mechanical toys[3] known in Pidgin English as "singsongs", which were popular with the Chinese.

[7] Along with fellow Scotsman John Reid, Beale was also one of the owners of the Imperial Eagle, a vessel ostensibly belonging to the fictitious Austrian East India Company, which sailed under the flag of Austria.

[8] By 1797, Beale & Co. had become the biggest of the country traders, dealing with clients in Bombay, Calcutta and London, in Indian cotton, sandalwood, tin, pepper Chinese tea and silk as well as opium.