Beale, Abraham (1793–1847), ironmonger and philanthropist, was born 16 August 1793 in Cork, into a quaker family, second of five sons and four daughters of Thomas Beale and Elizabeth Beale (née Abell). He was educated at the Friends' Provincial School, Newtown, Co. Waterford. He became an ironmonger, and after being declared bankrupt his case was dealt with at the Friends' monthly meeting in January 1819, which considered that the failure was principally due to his embarking on a business that he had not the means to carry on. He may have been disowned by the Society, but if so, was subsequently readmitted to membership after paying his debts. He established a successful business and at one time was in partnership with a distant relative, James Beale (qv), and owned ironworks at Monard, Co. Cork, and a warehouse on Patrick's Quay in Cork, where they sold ironmongery, Jamaican coffee, and raw and refined sugar.
He wrote religious verse, was probably the author of Lines on the death of James Abell of Templeville (1818), and supported charitable institutions in Cork, including the Cork Mechanics' Institution. With the onset of the great famine, he was appointed one of the corresponding members of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends and subsequently secretary of the Cork Friends Auxiliary Relief Committee, undertaking a heavy burden of correspondence. His elder brother, George Beale (1791–1834), a Cork architect, designed the Friends Meeting House in Grattan St., Cork (1834). Beale died of typhus 22 August 1847 at his home on Patrick's Quay, Cork, and is buried in the Friends Burial Ground, Cork. There is no evidence that he ever married.