A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices/Bicheno, James Ebenezer
Admitted 29 November, 1816.
Only son of the Rev. James Bicheno, of Aston, Oxford, Nonconformist Minister. Before his call to the Bar he had written a pamphlet on the Nature of Benevolence (1817), which was an attack on the Poor Laws and their administration, and also a work on Criminal Jurisprudence (1819), and after his call on 17 May, 1822, he devoted himself chiefly to economic and scientific studies. He became a member of the chief learned societies, and Secretary to the Linnæan Society. In 1829, he made a tour through Ireland with Mr. Frederick Page (q.v.), a Bencher of his Inn, which resulted in the publication of a book on Ireland and its Economy (1830). In 1833 he sat on a Commission to inquire into the Condition of the Poor in Ireland, and assisted in drawing up its Reports. In 1842, he was appointed Colonial Secretary in Van Diemen's Land, where he died, 25 Feb. 1851. Besides the writings above mentioned, he contributed many papers to scientific journals on Botany and Natural History, His collection of plants is preserved in the Museum at Swansea.