William Roxby Beverly

William John Lawrence, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, considered him second only to Clarkson Stanfield among British scene painters of the 19th century.

Under his father's management of the Theatre Royal, Manchester, in 1830, he painted a notable scene of the "Island of Mist" for the dramatic romance The Ice Witch, or the Frozen Hand, an early play of John Baldwin Buckstone.

[3] When in 1831 his father and his brothers Samuel and Robert Roxby took over the control of the Durham circuit,[4] Beverley joined them, and for a few seasons played heavy comedy besides painting scenery.

In December 1838 he was engaged to paint the major portion of the scenery for the pantomime of Number Nip (E. L. Blanchard) at Edinburgh, where his main contribution was a moving diorama, depicting scenes from William Falconer's poem The Shipwreck.

While still continuing his association with the Princess's, Beverly worked for the Lyceum Theatre under Lucia Elizabeth Vestris and Charles James Mathews (1847–55), where Planché compared him with the stage mechanician William Bradwell.

[2] In 1851 Beverly had some hand in the "Great Holy Land Diorama", the largest exhibited up to that time; it was at St George's Gallery, Hyde Park Corner.

Beverley's association with Drury Lane began under Edward Tyrrel Smith in 1854, and lasted, with few breaks, through the successive managements (Falconer, Chatterton, and Sir Augustus Harris) to 1884.

In September 1876 he was responsible for the scenery for Richard III at Drury Lane, in October 1880 for Mary Stuart (Lewis Strange Wingfield from Schiller) at the Royal Court Theatre, and in the following December for the Covent Garden pantomime of Valentine and Orson.

At the same house in March 1883 he painted for the Storm-beaten of Robert Williams Buchanan, and in the October following for the opera of Rip Van Winkle at the Royal Comedy Theatre.

[2] In 1884 Beverley painted a panorama of the Lakes of Killarney, which was an integral feature of George Fawcett Rowe's play of The Donagh at the Grand Theatre, Islington.