John Beard (tenor)

Beard left the choir at Easter 1734,[2] and immediately made his debut as a tenor in Handel's 1734 revival of his opera Il pastor fido.

In 1762, Beard created roles in the world premieres of two of Thomas Arne's operas: Farmer Hawthorn in Love in a Village, and Artabanes in Artaxerxes.

Burney's article in Rees's Cyclopædia noted that Beard, "an energetic English singer, and an excellent actor, was brought up in the king's chapel.

[3] Following the defeat of the government army at the Battle of Prestonpans in September 1745 during the Jacobite rebellion, Beard was one of the quartet who sang a newly written patriotic song "God save great George our King" after a performance at Drury Lane.

In 1743, Beard became a member of the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks, founded around 1735 by John Rich, the proprietor of Covent Garden theatre, his scene painter George Lambert and William Hogarth.