The son of the James Buckingham Bevington, he was educated at a Quaker school in Croydon and University College London. In 1851 he joined the family leather manufacturing firm of Bevingtons and Sons, eventually succeeding his father as head of the company. He was Master of the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers in 1897-98. He also took an active part in local affairs as a justice of the peace of Surrey and the County of London, chairman of the Bermondsey Free Library Committee and member of the council of the Borough Road Polytechnic. A painting of him here [2].