Belsham. I. Thomas, an English Unitarian divine and author, born at Bedford in April, 1750, died at Hampstead, Nov. 11, 1829. He was educated at the dissenters' academy at Daventry, of which he was principal from 1781 to 1789, also preaching at Daventry. In 1789 he embraced Unitarianism, and after spending nearly 11 years as pastor of the Gravel Pit congregation, he was called to the metropolis, and settled in 1805 as pastor of Essex street chapel, London, where the remaining 24 years of his life were spent. Mr. Belsham wrote a great deal in assertion and vindication of Unitarianism, including "Evidences of the Christian Revelation," a "Translation of the Epistles of Paul the Apostle, with an Exposition and Notes," and a reply to Mr. Wilber force's "Practical View." Among his contributions to general literature, his "Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind and of Moral Philosophy" (London, 1801), in which, with David Hartley, he resolves all mental phenomena into the association of ideas, is best known. II. William, a historical writer, brother of the preceding, born at Hammersmith in 1752, died Nov. 17, 1827. He was a whig in politics, and well acquainted with the leaders of that party.

In 1789 he commenced his literary course by publishing "Essays, Historical, Political, and Literary" (2 vols.). To these succeeded essays on various subjects, chiefly political, and several works which appeared between 1793 and 1801, and were finally reproduced in a collective edition as a "History of Great Britain to the Conclusion of the Peace of Amiens" (12 vols. 8vo, 1806).