Morris Beckman (21 February 1921 – 24 May 2015) was an English writer and

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

activist.

Biography

Early life

Morris Beckman was born in the north-eastern

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He attended

Hackney Downs School Hackney Downs School was an 11–16 boys, community comprehensive secondary school in Lower Clapton, Greater London, England. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. It has been replaced by the Mossbourne Community Academy. History Gr ...

. In 1939, when

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

started, he tried to enlist in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

to become a pilot, but was turned down and signed up for the Merchant Navy as a radio officer.

Merchant Navy

After three months training to become a radio officer, studying

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

, Beckman was assigned to merchant vessels participating in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...

until 1942 and was torpedoed twice. He was posted to Bombay in 1942 and spent two years with the Mogul Line, crewing auxiliary vessels for the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. Fr ...

across the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Beckman's vessels landed troops at Port Augusta during the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

in 1943 and, three months later, at Taranto during the

Allied invasion of Italy The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allied amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign (World War II), Italian campaign of World War II. The operation was undertaken by General (Unit ...

. In 1944 his ship was attacked by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

en route to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, lost a propeller and was towed to

Port Sudan Port Sudan ( ar, بور سودان, Būr Sūdān) is a port city in eastern Sudan, and the capital of the state of Red Sea. , it has 489,725 residents. Located on the Red Sea, Port Sudan is recognized as Sudan's main seaport and the source of 90% ...

. He caught paratyphoid, convalesced in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

, then worked his passage back home via

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

and New York. By 1946 he was permanently onshore back in London and helped to found the

43 Group The 43 Group was an English anti-fascist group set up by Jewish ex-servicemen after the Second World War. They did this when, upon returning to London, they encountered British fascist organisations such as Jeffrey Hamm's British League of Ex- ...

. He made his home at Amhurst Road in Hackney.

Career

Beckman tried his hand at several businesses and eventually went into partnership with John David Gold to start a men's clothes manufacturer, opening their first factory in

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

in 1952. The firm steadily expanded, at one time having several factories in the UK and one in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. In 1975, faced with increasingly cheap imports from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, the company went into liquidation. Beckman started further small-scale businesses in the same industry, eventually giving up work for writing in the 1980s.

Writing

While working for the Mogul Line, Beckman wrote many articles and short stories which were published in the ''Sind Gazette'' and ''Egyptian Mail'' amongst other newspapers. His first and only novel, ''Open Skies and Lost Cargoes'', was published by Thacker & Co in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in 1944. Beckman wrote little after leaving the Merchant Navy until the 1980s when he began to document his experiences growing up in Hackney, serving in the Merchant Navy and fighting British fascist groups with the

. Since ''The 43 Group'' was published, Beckman lectured in Britain, Germany, Holland and Ireland to groups interested in the fight against fascism. Subsequent autobiographical works are ''The Hackney Crucible'' about growing up in Hackney before World War II, and ''Atlantic Roulette'' about the Battle of the Atlantic. Beckman also wrote ''The Jewish Brigade: An Army With Two Masters'' about the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv Jews from Manda ...

Publications

*''Ocean Skies and Lost Cargoes'' (1944) *''The 43 Group'', Centerprise (1993) *''The Hackney Crucible'' (1996) *''Atlantic Roulette'' (1996) *''The Jewish Brigade'' (1999) *''Flying the Red Duster'', Spellmount (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckman, Morris 1921 births 2015 deaths 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English memoirists 21st-century English writers Writers from London People from Hackney Central People educated at Hackney Downs School English anti-fascists British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II