James M. Beck Jr.

James Montgomery Beck Jr. (April 17, 1892 – December 4, 1972) was a prominent society figure in New York and Newport.

Early life

Beck was born on April 17, 1892, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the only son of Lilla Lawrence ( Mitchell) Beck (1861–1956) and James M. Beck (1861–1936), a Republican U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania who served as U.S. Solicitor General under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. His sister, author Beatrice Beck, a friend of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, was married to foreign service officer Somerville Pinkney Tuck and, following their 1934 divorce, Snowden Andrews Fahnestock (a grandson of banker Harris C. Fahnestock), whom she married in 1936.

His paternal grandparents were Margaretta (née Darling) and James Nathan Beck. His mother was the daughter of James and Emeline Lawrence Mitchell of Philadelphia and, later, Baltimore, Maryland. Before their divorce in 1927 in Paris, they were the parents of a daughter:

On July 24, 1928, Beck was married to The Hon. Clarissa Madeline Georgiana Felicite "Clare" Tennant (1896–1960) in England. Clare was a daughter of Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner, and the former Pamela Wyndham, and sister of Edward, Stephen and David Tennant. She had previously been married to Capt. Adrian Bethell and Lionel Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson (grandson of poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson), both of whom she divorced. Before their separation in 1936 and divorce in 1939, James and Clare were the parents of twins: Virginia Clare Beck (1929–2008)

In 1945, Beck remarried to Mary Ridgely Carter (1904–1974), a daughter of the Rev. George Calvert Carter (a grandson of George Henry Calvert and great-grandson of George Calvert) and Mary Wray ( Benson) Carter. She was a niece of diplomats Alexander Benson, John Ridgely Carter and a cousin of Mildred, Countess of Gosford. Together, they lived in Newport and at 300 Park Avenue in New York City and were the parents of:

Beck died on December 4, 1972, at a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. His widow died at Plaisance, their home in Newport, in 1976. In 2014, the Beck's son Edward sold Plaisance, their Newport home overlooking an Atlantic-facing cove and Bailey's Beach, for $5,000,000.