 During this time he and William Gaskell, who was living in nearby Knutsford, worked to establish the Unitarian Home Missionary Board, which became Unitarian College Manchester, of which they were the co-founders and the first two Principals.He retired in 1874 and died aged 76 on 22 November 1876, at the Meadows, Ashton upon Mersey.Beard and his wife Mary (née Barnes (1802–87)) had ten children.