George Andrew Beck (28 May 1904 – 13 September 1978) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

who served in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Archbishop of Liverpool The Archbishop of Liverpool is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool and metropolitan of the Province of Liverpool (also known as the Northern Province) in England. The archdiocese covers an area of of the west of the C ...

from 29 January 1964 to 7 February 1976. Beck was born in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

in south London. He was educated at

Clapham College Clapham College was a Roman Catholic secondary school for boys in South London. Background It opened in 1897 and closed in 1989. Its history falls into three phases: for half a century it was a private school, for three decades it was a publicl ...

and later at the Assumptionist College of St Michael at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. In 1927, he was ordained priest in the order of the

Assumptionists The Assumptionists, officialy named the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption ( la, Congregatio Augustinianorum ab Assumptione) abbreviated AA,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men (priests and b ...

(or Augustinians of the Assumption). He was headmaster of the Becket School in Nottingham and in 1948, he was appointed

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

Bishop of Brentwood and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Tigias Tigias was a Roman- Berber town in the province of Africa Proconsularis in Byzacena. Its stone ruins are located in Henchir-Taus in the oasis of Kriz, Tunisia. The city was also the seat of an ancient diocese, which remains a titular see of the ...

. He succeeded as Bishop of Brentwood in 1951 was subsequently

Bishop of Salford The Bishop of Salford is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford in the Province of Liverpool, England. With the gradual abolition of the legal restrictions on the activities of Catholics in England and Wales in the early 19th cent ...

from 1955 to 1964. As Bishop of Salford he continued the substantial expansion of new parishes and schools begun by his predecessor,

Henry Vincent Marshall Henry Vincent Marshall (19 July 1884 – 14 April 1955) was the sixth Bishop of Salford, a Roman Catholic diocese in the north-west of England. Born in 1884 in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland he was educated there at St Michael's College and ...

, to implement the

Education Act Education Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to education. The Bill for an Act with this short title wil ...

. Beck was an educational expert, and successfully led negotiations with successive governments to better the position of Catholic schools across the country. In 1964 he was appointed Archbishop of Liverpool, from which he resigned at the age of 71 in 1976. Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College in the

Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada * Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingdo ...

area of Liverpool is named after him.

References

1904 births 1978 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United Kingdom People from Streatham Assumptionists Roman Catholic bishops of Brentwood Roman Catholic archbishops of Liverpool Participants in the Second Vatican Council Roman Catholic bishops of Salford British Roman Catholic archbishops {{UK-RC-archbishop-stub