Henry Beckles Willson

Henry Beckles Willson, known as Beckles Willson, (26 August 1869, Montreal – 1942) was a Canadian journalist, World War I veteran, historian and prolific author. [1][2][3]

Family and career

The journalist, historian, and soldier, was born at Montreal. He was educated at Kingston, Ontario. Willson joined the staff of The Boston Globe in 1887 and was its correspondent in Cuba during the following year. He became the correspondent in Georgia for the New York Herald in 1889. [4]

He travelled to England in 1892, and joined the staff of the London Daily Mail. He returned to Canada and married Ethel Grace Dudley on 28 June 1899, they returned to England settling in London at Talbot Road Paddington. They had two sons Gordon Beckles (b.1902) and Robert (b.1908) and one daughter Clare (b.1906) -all became journalists. Later on he became a free-lance writer and a prolific author. Several of his books explored Canadian history and issues. The family lived for a while at Quebec House Westerham Kent in 1911, once the childhood home of James Wolfe (1727-1759). [5]

He served as a senior officer with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War and recounted his experiences in the Battle of Ypres in two books, In the Ypres Salient (1916) and Ypres (1920). [6] He served as a (acting) Major attached to the HQ staff and invalided out in 1916. He became a prolific author, mainly of historical and political works. He was instrumental in the creation of the Imperial War Museum in his role as the museum’s field agent, where he believed the collections should reflect the detail of battle and involvement of ordinary soldiers at ground level. [7]

Grace died at Quebec House Westerham Kent in 1920. He re-married French born Ida Lavinia Parkes in Chelsea in the spring of 1924. During WW2 Beckles was interned in France and died in Beaulieu-sur-mer in September 1942 with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, aged 73.[8] Ida died in March 1965.

Beckles as Editor

Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe owned the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror and, therefore, greatly influenced British popular opinion. He bought several failing newspapers and made them into an enormously profitable chain, primarily by appealing to the popular taste. In May 1896, he launched the Daily Mail "the busy man's daily journal" in London.
In 1898, he founded the Harmsworth Magazine (later The London Magazine 1898-1915), edited by Beckles Willson, one of Britain's best editors. [9]

Selected works
gollark: Most shells are similarly bad about this.
gollark: It's generally beneficial to not not handle errors.
gollark: Those are bad things.
gollark: I mean, quoting hell and basically just not handling errors.
gollark: To be fair, bash *is* very bad.

References
  1. http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/bios/hbwillson.htm Henry Beckles Willson (1869-1942)
  2. "WILLSON, Beckles". Canadian Who's Who. Vol. 1. 1910. p. 238.
  3. "Willson, Beckles". Who's Who. 1914. p. 2254.
  4. http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/bios/hbwillson.htm
  5. 1911 England Census
  6. http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/bios/hbwillson.htm
  7. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/W/H/au45713647.html
  8. England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976
  9. http://messybeast.com/history/books-of-wonder.htm
  10. ""Drift." (a letter to the editor by Beckles Willson)". The Academy. 58: 538. 1900.
  11. "Review of The Great Company, 1667–1871 by Beckles Willson". The Athenæum (3778): 359–360. 24 March 1900.
  12. "Review of The Romance of Empire: Canada by Beckles Willson". Review of Historical Publications Relating to Canada. 12: 23. 1907.
  • Works by Henry Beckles Willson at Project Gutenberg
  • List of stories by Beckles Willson, published in The Strand Magazine
  • Imperial War Museum image, (WW1 c1917) Catalogue number: HU 128056 (Major Henry Beckles-Willson. Unit: Inspector of War Trophies in the Palestinian Campaign. He was employed to collect exhibits for the Imperial War Museum. On the photograph seen on the Jericho road with sword and flag of Ahmed Cemal Pasha (Djemal Pasha).[]
  • IMAGE: National Portrait Gallery, Beckles Willson, (1890s) by James Russell & Sons, Baker Street, London albumen cabinet card, NPG x27436 []


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