Arthur William à Beckett (25 October 1844 – 14 January 1909) was an English journalist and intellectual.

Biography

He was a younger son of Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and

Mary Anne à Beckett Mary Anne à Beckett (29 April 1815 – 11 December 1863) was an English composer, primarily known for opera. She was the wife of the writer Gilbert à Beckett, who provided the libretti for two of her operas. Their children included the writ ...

, brother of Gilbert Arthur à Beckett and educated at

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head ...

. Besides fulfilling other journalistic engagements, Beckett was on the staff of ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pu ...

'' from 1874 to 1902, edited the ''Sunday Times'' 1891–1895, and the ''Naval and Military Magazine'' in 1896. He gave an account of his father and his own reminiscences in ''The à Becketts of Punch'' (1903). A childhood friend (and distant relative) of

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

, Beckett briefly feuded with Gilbert in 1869, but the two patched up the friendship, and Gilbert even later collaborated on projects with Beckett's brother. He was married to Suzanne Frances Winslow, daughter of the noted

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

Forbes Benignus Winslow Forbes Benignus Winslow DCL, FRCP Edin., MRCP, MRCS, MD, (10 August 1810 – 3 March 1874) was a British psychiatrist, author and an authority on lunacy during the Victorian era. Winslow was the ninth son of Thomas Winslow (1772–18 ...

Works

He published: * ''Comic Guide to the Royal Academy'', with his brother Gilbert (1863–64) * ''Fallen Amongst Thieves'' (1869) * ''Our Holiday in the Highlands'' (1874) * ''The Shadow Witness'' and ''The Doom of Saint Quirec'', with Francis Burnand (1875–76) * ''The Ghost of Greystone Grange'' (1877) * ''The Mystery of Mostyn Manor'' (1878) * ''Traded Out''; ''Hard Luck''; ''Stone Broke''; ''Papers from Pump Handle Court, by a Briefless Barrister'' (1884) * ''Modern Arabian Nights'' (1885) * ''The Member for Wrottenborough'' (1895) * ''Greenroom Recollections'' (1896) * ''The Modern Adam'' (1899) * ''London at the End of the Century'' (1900) *With

F. C. Burnand Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (29 November 1836 – 21 April 1917), usually known as F. C. Burnand, was an English comic writer and prolific playwright, best known today as the librettist of Arthur Sullivan's opera '' Cox and Box''. The son of ...

he co-authored: ** ''The Doom of St. Querec'' (1875) ** ''The Shadow Witness'' (1876) He wrote for the theatre two three-act comedies: *''L.S.D.'' ( Royalty Theatre, 1872); *''About Town'' ( Court Theatre, 1873, it ran for over 150 nights); and *''On Strike'' (Court Theatre, 1873, a domestic drama in one act) ; *''Faded Flowers'' ( The Haymarket); *''Long Ago'' (Royalty Theatre, 1882); *''From Father to Son'' (Liverpool, 1881, a dramatised version of his novel ''Fallen among Thieves'' written in 3 acts in cooperation with J. Palgrave Simpson).

Notes

References

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External links

* * * 1844 births 1909 deaths English male journalists English humorists {{UK-journalist-stub