The family of Frank Hansley Elver Beard comes from the Somerset. They include, as his name suggests, the Elver family - but I don't know where the Hansley name came from. The main focus of our research in this area has been Banwell in Somerset, where the Beards have lived as farmers for as far back as we have looked.

The most famous of them was "Professor" William Beard, the developer and curator of the Bone Cave at Banwell, which for many years rivalled Cheddar as a tourist destination.  The photo on the right shows him sitting at the door of his house, "Bone Cottage", holding various bones and with a skull on the table beside him.