Background
John Hay Beith was born in Chorlton, Lancashire, the second son of John Alexander Beith, of the Beith, Stevenson & Co. shipping and export business, based in Manchester. His paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian clergyman, Rev. Dr. Alexander Beith, active in the Disruption of 1843.
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“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
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