Thomas Alcock Beck (1795–1846) was an English author known for writing ''Annales Furnesienses'' (1844), a history of

Furness Abbey Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former Catholic monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the coun ...

, which was dedicated by permission to Her Majesty

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, and which contained twenty-six steel engravings and several woodcuts. Beck was a long-term resident of

Hawkshead Hawkshead is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, which attracts tourists to the South Lakeland area. The parish includes the hamlets of Hawkshead Hill, to the north west, and Outgate, a similar distance north. Hawkshead contains one ...

in Lancashire, where his parents had lived at The Grove. He used a wheelchair for much of his life, being unable to walk due to a spinal complaint. At one time he had attended

Hawkshead Grammar School Hawkshead Grammar School in Hawkshead, Cumbria, England was founded in 1585 by Archbishop Edwin Sandys, of York, who petitioned a charter from Queen Elizabeth I to set up a governing body. The early School taught Latin, Greek and sciences, includi ...

and he

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

in 1814, but left without taking a degree. Around 1819, he commenced the building of his regency mansion

Esthwaite Lodge Esthwaite Lodge is a 19th-century house in Hawkshead, Cumbria, England; it is a Grade II listed building. The house was commissioned by Thomas Alcock Beck, a local resident and antiquarian. He employed Kendal-based architect George Webster t ...

(subsequently a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

), to the design of George Webster. The grounds were specially laid out with easy gradients for his wheelchair. Besides other antiquarian interests, he also edited Dr. William Close's unfinished work ''An Itinerary of Furness''.

Marriage

On 25 April 1838 he married Elizabeth Fell of Hawkshead (formerly of

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few mi ...

), having obtained a special license to allow the ceremony to take place within his own home.Original Hawkshead

parish register A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

, deposited with

Cumbria Archive Service Cumbria Archive Service serves the English county of Cumbria. Rather than having just one county record office, Cumbria County Council operates four local record offices, now known as archive centres, in Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Kendal and W ...

, Kendal.

References

1795 births 1846 deaths 19th-century English historians Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne People educated at Hawkshead Grammar School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People from Hawkshead {{UK-historian-stub