Sir William Eric Beckett, KCMG, QC (20 October 1896 – 27 August 1966) was a British international lawyer who served as

Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office The Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (known as Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office until 1968) is the chief legal adviser and the head of the Legal Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The current Legal Adviser is ...

from 1945 to 1953.

Biography

Beckett was born in

Hawarden Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community (Wales), community and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home ...

, Flintshire, the son of a land agent. He was educated at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

, before serving with the 3rd Gattalion, Cheshire Regiment during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He served in France, Salonika, and the Caucasus, and reached the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He then entered

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, where he was a scholar, took first-class honours in Jurisprudence, and won the Eldon Law Scholarship. He was elected a prize fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

in 1921. He was called to the bar by the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1922, joined the Foreign Office as assistant legal adviser in 1925, and was promoted second legal adviser in 1929. He played a key role in the 1930 League of Nations Codification Conference and in relation to the abolition of the capitulatory regime in Egypt in 1934. He advised the British government during the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, and played an important part in the first three assemblies of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. Beckett became Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office in 1945, succeeding Sir William Malkin. As Legal Adviser, Beckett was responsible for a heavy litigation program involving the United Kingdom. He led the British legal team in the

Corfu Channel case The ''Corfu Channel'' case (french: Affaire du Détroit de Corfou, links=no) was the first public international law case heard before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) between 1947 and 1949, concerning state responsibility for damages a ...

, the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company case, and participated in many others. He retired due to illness in 1953. Beckett became a CMG in 1931, a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1946 and was promoted to KCMG in 1948.

Family

Beckett married Katharine Mary Richards, younger daughter of the international lawyer Sir Henry Erle Richards, in 1925; they had two sons and one daughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, Eric 1896 births 1966 deaths People educated at Sherborne School Cheshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Members of the Inner Temple Civil servants in the Foreign Office British King's Counsel Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People from Hawarden