Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he was the son of English physician Doctor Robert Wellford—a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and his wife Catherine Yates. Beverly was educated in medicine by his father before attending lectures at the University of Maryland, where he was awarded his M. D. in the Spring of 1816.
Following graduation, he returned home to practice medicine with his father. The couple would have one daughter before Betty died in 1818. In 1851, he was elected president of the Virginia Medical Association.
During 1852-1853, he served as sixth president of the American Medical Association.
He was named professor of materia medica and therapeutics for the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. A chair he held until he retired in 1868 as professor emeritus.
Following a stroke that left him paralyzed, Doctor Beverly Wellford battled a protracted illness, before dying in Richmond, Virginia, on December 27, 1870.
