Clifford Thomason Beckett

Major-General Clifford Thomason Beckett, (9 November 1891 – 8 July 1972) was an officer of the British Army who had a distinguished military career that spanned almost thirty-five years, including service in the two world wars.

Early life Clifford Beckett was the older son of Brigadier-General William Thomas Clifford Beckett and Bessie Drummond Thomason, daughter of Major-General Charles Simeon Thomason of the Bengal Royal Engineers. His younger brother was Walter Napier Thomason Beckett, who later joined the Royal Navy (RN). The family returned to Great Britain for the boys education, and lived near Grantown-on-Spey in Scotland.

Military career Beckett was educated at Tonbridge School in his native Kent and then attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Field Artillery of the British Army on 20 July 1911.

During the First World War Beckett, promoted in July 1914 to lieutenant, served in various campaigns including Gallipoli, France, Salonika and finally was wounded at Palestine where he received the Military Cross (MC) for his actions. He finished the war with the rank of captain.

On 4 December 1915, Clifford Beckett married Winifred Mary Ackerley Chichester, daughter of the late C. A. W. Chichester and bore one son and two daughters. During the period between the wars Beckett was engaged in various military duties including travel in Afghanistan and Australia. In 1929, he was Staff Captain at the War Office overseeing the Special Award War Office Committee on Awards to Inventors. Beckett was later employed on strategic reconnaissances in Western Europe and also served in Lahore where he was involved in the suppression of riots and the organization of the Military Jubilee Tattoo. In recognition of his actions at Malta Beckett was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 18 February 1943.

By 1943 Beckett was in command of the 4th and 5th Anti-Aircraft Groups of the Royal Artillery. In April 1945 Clifford Beckett was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in recognition of meritorious services during his military career and he retired from military service on 24 May 1946 at the rank of major general. He served as Director of the French Hospital of La Providence and was President of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) of Somerset, (1949–1958). Beckett also judged at the Rhône and Delhi Horse Shows.

Beckett had a keen interest in history and published The Yeomanry of Devon (with Commander W. Benson Freeman) and was a regular contributor to military journals and the Journal of Huguenot Society of London. Beckett's wife Winifred died in 1960 and Clifford Beckett died in 1972, aged 80.