Frank Bechhofer

Frank Bechhofer FRSE (10 October 1935 – 10 December 2018) was a British sociologist. He is known for studies around social class and national identity.

Early life Bechhofer was born in Nuremberg on 10 October 1935. He left Germany at the age of three, coming to the United Kingdom in 1939, and his parents settled in Nottingham. He attended Nottingham Grammar School. According to interview notes from 2001, he spent time in the Royal Artillery in the BAOR, from 1954 to 1956. He went to Queens' College, Cambridge in 1956, having been admitted to read mathematics. Doubting his own ability, he chose engineering instead. He spent time as a student on drama, in the long vacation running a theatre company, which became an abiding interest.

As a graduate student in the Department of Engineering, he had a scholarship from Queens' in 1960, and then a further grant from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Under the influence of Stuart Chase, he took an innovative business management course set up by Frederick John Willett (1922–1993). It included a history course by Geoffrey Best and a law course by Bill Wedderburn. He was awarded a master's degree in 1962. At this point Bechhofer made the decision to leave engineering. He took early retirement in 1997 and became professor emeritus, to write. In 2008 he was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She became Head of Child Clinical Psychology Services at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh. They were both involved in running Edinburgh Folk Club, to 1994.