Friends of Hastings Cemetery

BB D25  -

Sacred to the memory

of

William Coker Beck

Who Died 1st June 1892

Aged 56 Years

And of

Jane, his wife, (nee NEVE)

Who died 20th June 1891

Aged 55 years

Also of their three children

Harry, Percy Ebenezer

and Herbert Coler

Who died in infancy

Also of their youngest son

Edgar George Beck

Who died 14th September 1901

Aged 28 Years

This memorial is erected by their surviving children

Also in proud and loving memory of William Crabbe Beck

Major of Royal Field Artillery

Eldest son of Frederick & Honor Beck & First Grandchild of the above

Who was killed in action in Palestine 28th March 1918, aged 28 years

And who is buried on the Mount of Olives

And of Kate Ethel Beck

Daughter of William Coker and Jane Beck

died 7th July 1933 aged 65

William Coker Beck (born 1836) and Jane Beck(born 1836) on whose grave William Crabbe Beck is remembered, were his grandparents.  In 1851 at the age of 16 William senior was living with his widowed mother, who was a baker, at 5 London Rd.  He was described as a miller.  By 1871 he was living at London Rd Ore with his wife, eight children, an elderly uncle and one servant.  He was described as a miller employing three men.

By 1881 the family is living at 136 Mount Pleasant Rd and William senior was no longer a baker.  He was described as Assistant Overseer (Municipal) Ore.  By now there were 11 children.  In 1891 they were living at 33 Elphinstone Rd and he held various municipal clerkships – he was clerk to the Ore School Board and Assistant Clerk to the Board of Guardians.  He was buried in the Non-Conformist section of the cemetery.

William Crabbe Beck was a Major in the Royal Field Artillery (Territorial Force) "C" Bty. 301st Brigade.  He was killed in action in Palestine on 28/3/1918 at the age of 29 and is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery.  He was mentioned in Dispatches.

He was the son of Frederick Walter and Honor Beck of 21, Lime Street, London EC3.  He was born in Luton, Beds in 1889.  Two years later the Census lists the family as living at 32 Cardiff Rd, Luton.  His father who had been born in Ore in 1863 was a solicitor. His mother came from Buxton in Derbyshire where she was born in 1892.  In 1901 he was at school in Harpenden.  By 1911 the family had moved to Bromley and he was studying law.  He was admitted Jan. 1913 was a member of Neve, Beck & Kirby, 21 Lime Street, E.C.

He had a long association with the military as the following references show.

From London Gazette 3 December 1907

2nd Kent Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers; William Crabbe Beck- to be Second Lieutenant. Dated 21st October, 1907.

From London Gazette 23 October 1908:

11th County of London (Howitzer) Battery, 4th London (Howitzer) Brigade; the under-mentioned officers, from the 2nd Kent Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers), are appointed to the battery, with rank and precedence as in the Volunteer Force.

Dated 1st April, 1908:

Captain Wallace Sharpe.

Lieutenant William Stanley Watson.

Second Lieutenant Edward Robert Cabell Warrens.

Second Lieutenant William Crabbe Beck

He has a file in the National Archives: WO 374/5221

In 1914 Mobilised Aug. 4, 1914, as Capt. in 4th London Howitzer Brigade, subsequently

Captain in the Royal Field Artillery, promoted full Major Nov. 1917.  Twice mentioned in Dispatches. Served at Home, in France, Salonica, Egypt, and Palestine.