William Beckett-Denison


William Beckett-Denison was an English banker and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1876 and 1890. He died when he fell under a train.

Early life

Born William Beckett on 10 September 1826, he was the third and second surviving son of Sir Edmund Beckett, 4th Baronet, of Grimthorpe, Yorkshire, and his wife Maria Beverley, daughter of William Beverley of Beverley.
He was educated at the Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

In 1847, at twenty-one, he joined his father's banking firm of Beckett & Co. He later made partner and, in 1874, was made head of the firm at Leeds, Doncaster and Retford. Upon the retirement of Leslie Melville, he became head of the English County Bankers' Association as well as the East Riding Bank at Beverley and Malton. He was a captain in the Yorkshire Hussar Yeomanry Cavalry and a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for the West Riding of Yorkshire.
In 1876 Beckett was elected a Conservative Member of Parliament for East Retford but lost the seat in 1880. At the 1885 general election he was elected MP for Bassetlaw. He held the seat until his death in 1890.

Personal life

Beckett married the Hon. Helen Duncombe, third daughter of William Duncombe, 2nd Baron Feversham and Lady Louisa Stewart, in 1855. They lived at Meanwood Park in Leeds and at Nun Appleton, Yorkshire, and were the parents of at least seven children, including:
Beckett died at the age of 64 when he fell under a train at Wimborne. He had arrived at Wimborne railway station to change trains for Bournemouth, and while waiting went for a walk. He was walking beside the track on the way back to the station when a strong wind blew his hat off and he fell almost immediately under the train. His body was cut to pieces and carried some 56 feet.
Following his death, a Mrs Gertrude Beatrice Brinkworth alleged she was his mistress and mother of his adopted children and sued his executors. Some money was paid but the case came before court and the jury declared Mrs Brinkworth's case to be a 'swindle' and rejected her claims even before the evidence in the case had been completed.