WILLIAM BECKETT

Born: 1897, Ipswich.

Died: 4th December 1914; age 17; KiA.

Residence: Ipswich.

Enlistment Location: Ipswich.

Date of Entry Therein: 15th September 1914.

Rank: Private; Service Number: 3/8757

Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 2nd Battalion.

Medals Awarded: Victory, British War & 1914 Star.

Memorial Reference:

Panel 21.

Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial,

West-Vlaanderen,

Belgium.

CENSUS

1901   Gypsy Caravan, The Common, Blaxhall, Suffolk.

William was 4 years old and living with his parents & siblings.

William Beckett, 37, a General Dealer – Hawker – own shop, born Halesworth, Suffolk.

Maryann Lily Beckett (nee Welsh (1st partner Perry)), 39, a Hawker – own account, born Chatham, Kent.

Beatrice Rosanna Beckett, 13, born Harwich, Essex.

Lovethine Beckett, 10, born Southwold, Suffolk.

Isabella Beckett, 7, born Coldfair Green, Suffolk.

Alicia Beckett, 2, born Tunstall, Suffolk.

Walter Beckett, 8 months, Blaxhall, Suffolk.

1911   6, Austin Street, Ipswich.

William was 15 years old, a Marine Store Dealer. He was living with his parents & siblings.

William, 48, a Marine Store Dealer – own account.

Maryann, 48.

Alicia, 12.

Walter, 11.

William’s mother, Mary Ann Lily Beckett, died on the 8^th April 1914, at the Cottage Hospital, Felixstowe, Suffolk and was buried on the 14^th April in Section X at Ipswich Old Cemetery.

Evening Star – Thursday, 9^th April 1914 – FOUND ILL ON THE ROAD – An old lady named Beckett, supposed to have come to Felixstowe from Ipswich, was taken ill in Brook Lane, Felixstowe, on Tuesday. She was taken to the Cottage Hospital and attended to by Dr. George James Conford. The old lady, however, died at the institution on Wednesday.

Soldiers’ Effects to William Beckett – father and Bella Bird, Alice Spencer & Lovethine Nook – sisters.

William’s stepbrother, HENRY PERRY BECKETT, was executed by hanging on Thursday, 10^th July 1919, at Pentonville Prison, for murder.

Henry was born on Tuesday, 2^nd August 1881 at 14 Whittaker Street, Chatham, Kent, to Mary Perry (nee Welsh) and George Perry, a hawker. When still a young lad, Henry’s mother, Mary Ann, began to live with William Becket, a hawker, together with their family, they travelled Suffolk and Essex in their gypsy caravan. Henry adopted the surname Beckett. By the age of 12, Henry was constantly in trouble.

Henry was living as a gypsy on Bramford Tye when he first appeared before the magistrates in February 1894 for throwing stones at trains on the Great Eastern Railway at Great Blakenham on the 20^th January. Henry did not appear at the Needham Market Petty Sessions, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. When the authority caught up with him, he received six strokes of the birch rod.

From 1895 to 1912, Henry appeared at various petty sessions courts and crown courts fourteen times – for stealing anything and everything. In April 1912, Henry, a slater by trade, was sentenced to 5 years’ penal servitude for stealing lead. On his release, he joined the 3rd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment and was attached to the Army Veterinary Corps. He served in Egypt and Palestine and was shot in the leg, taken prisoner of war by the Turkish troops, contracted typhoid, and was beaten and tortured by the Turkish soldiers – struck on the head with a rifle butt, and suffered head injuries. Henry said at his trial that as a result of these experiences, he heard voices in his head.

When Henry returned to England in February 1919, by March, he was living at 13 Stukeley Road, Forest Gate, the family home of Alice Cornish (nee Beckett, his stepfather William Beckett’s sister), his stepaunt. The Cornish family, Walter Frank Cornish, aged 47, Alice Mary Cornish, aged 43, and their daughters, Alice Beatrice Dorothy Cornish, aged 14, and Marie Cornish, aged 6, welcomed Henry into their home for two weeks before there was an agreement, and Henry had to leave.

On the 28^th April 1919, Henry passed the Cornish’s house, and his stepaunt invited him. The previous argument was continued by his stepaunt Alice Cornish, and so Henry struck her on the head with a poker and took her out to the garden shed to hide her body. Alice was still alive, so after cutting off her fingers, he took her wedding ring (still around the finger), then hit her with a pickaxe, and with a carving knife stabbed her throat.

When Marie Cornish returned home from school, Henry struck her with a hammer and threw her down the stairs to the cellar. Next to arrive home was Alice Cornish. Henry struck her with the hammer, hit her on the throat with the axe and carried her to the cellar. Walter Cornish returned home from work and was in the kitchen when Henry hit him across the head with the axe and ran from the house with a small amount of stolen money.

Walter Cornish was still conscious when a neighbour came to the rescue. Walter later died in the hospital from the injuries sustained.

Henry was arrested three days later in East Ham. The trial began on the 27^th May and lasted two days. Henry pleaded insanity. Henry’s stepsisters,  Mrs. Bella Bird and Lovely Nook, gave evidence that they and other family members had no liking or sympathy for him. They described him as dishonest and violent.

Henry Perry Beckett was hanged on Thursday, 10^th July 1919, at Pentonville Prison.

Extra information about Henry Perry Beckett, courtesy of John Walker. 

So much more information, further reading and research can be found here: www.e7-nowandthen.org/2017/03/the-1919-forest-gate-murders.html

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