Biography of Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe 1856-1917

In 1855 [his father] William Beckett-Denison [aged 28] and [his mother] Helen Duncombe [aged 23] were married.

On 25th November 1856 Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe was born to William Beckett-Denison [aged 30] and Helen Duncombe [aged 25].

On 4th October 1883 Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 26] and Lucy Tracy Lee were married.

On 24th November 1885 Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 28] was elected MP Whitby which seat he held until 29th April 1905 when he succeeded to his title.

On 23rd November 1890 [his father] William Beckett-Denison [aged 64] died.

On 3rd May 1891 [his son] Ralph Beckett 3rd Baron Grimthorpe was born to Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 34] and [his wife] Lucy Tracy Lee. His mother died from childbirth six days later. He married 3rd September 1914 Mary Alice Archdale Baroness Beckett and had issue.

On 6th June 1894 Violet Keppel was born to George Keppel [aged 28] and Alice Frederica Edmonstone aka Keppel [aged 26]. Her family considered her actual father to be Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 37]. She married 1919 Denys Trefusis.

On 22nd November 1896 [his mother] Helen Duncombe [aged 65] died.

The London Gazette 27169. War Office, Pall Mall, 27th February, 1900. The Imperial Yeomanry.

Major and Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel E. W. Beckett [aged 43], Yorkshire Hussars Yeomanry.

The London Gazette 27173. War Office, 18th March, 1900. Yeomanry Cavalry.

Yorkshire Hussars (Princess of Wales's Own) Major and Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel E. W. Beckett [aged 43]. Dated 14th March, 1900

In 1901 Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 44] and Eve Fairfax [aged 30] were engaged around which time he commissioned a bust of Eve from sculptor Auguste Rodin, which was the first of several Rodin made using Eve as a model. the wedding never took place. It was rumoured Eve and Rodin had a love affair.

The London Gazette 27454. War Office, 15th July, 1902. Imperial Yeomanry. Memorandum. The undermentioned Officer resigns his Commission, and receives a new Commission subject to the provisions of the Militia and Yeomanry Act, 1901, retaining his present rank and seniority, viz.:—

Yorkshire Hussars (Princess of Walesjs Own). Major and Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel E. W. Beckett [aged 45].

1903. Unknown Photographer. Photograph of Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 46].

In 1904 Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 47] purchased Villa Cimbrone, Ravello, on the Amalfi Coast of southern Italy, from the Amici's of Atrani who had inherited the villa in the second half of the nineteenth century.

In 1905 Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 48] was sacked as a senior partner from the family banking firm Beckett & Co. by his two brothers because of his expensive tastes and personal debts.

On 29th April 1905 [his uncle] Edmund Beckett 1st Baron Grimthorpe [aged 88] died after a fall. He was buried at St Albans Cathedral [Map]. His nephew Ernest [aged 48] succeeded 2nd Baron Grimthorpe, 6th Baronet Beckett of Leeds.

On 3rd September 1914 [his son] Ralph Beckett 3rd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 23] and [his daughter-in-law] Mary Alice Archdale Baroness Beckett were married.

In March 1916 Eve Fairfax [aged 45] entered a nursing home at 15 Welbeck Street in the west end of London, and on 7 March her son was born. She named him John Francis Mordaunt. Eve and her son were well looked after by the matron there, Clara Nelson Smith, who was present at the birth. Clara Nelson Smith had been awarded the Royal Victorian Order after a member of the royal family had died in the Welbeck nursing home. The cause of his death was unknown and his will was sealed, creating a precedent for future royal wills. The child's father is suspected to be her former fiance Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 59].

On 9th May 1917 Ernest William Beckett 2nd Baron Grimthorpe [aged 60] died at a sanatorium in Banchory, Aberdeenshire. His son Ralph [aged 26] succeeded 3rd Baron Grimthorpe, 7th Baronet Beckett of Leeds. Mary Alice Archdale Baroness Beckett by marriage Baroness Grimthorpe. His ashes are interred in the gardens of Villa Cimbrone, Ravello.