BELLASIS, EDWARD

BELLASIS, EDWARD. - English jurist, b. 14 Oct. 1800 at Basilden, d. 24 Jan. 1873 at Hyères (France). He became counsel to Parliament, a post which he held until his retirement in 1866, and drafted various bills concerning railways and navigation. From 1833 to 1845 he followed the Oxford Movement with interest and became a friend of the future cardinals Newman and Manning. The constitution of 29 Sept. 1850, which restored the Catholic hierarchy in England and provoked opposition from Protestants, gave B. the opportunity to intervene on behalf of Catholics with the pamphlet A Remonstrance with the Clergy of Westminster, followed the next year by the work The Anglican Bishops versus the Catholic Hierarchy. In Sept. 1850 B. had converted to the Catholic faith. At his death Cardinal Newman greatly mourned him, and all who had known him remembered him as a most charitable man.