W.N.T. Beckett

Captain Walter Napier Thomason Beckett, MVO, DSC (1893 – 1941) was a noted Royal Navy officer in both the First World War and the Second World War. He was known to most people as "Joe" Beckett, after a famous British boxer of the same era, as they shared the same surname. Beckett was also a capable amateur boxer, holding the title of Royal Navy Heavyweight boxing champion for some time.

In ''Fabulous Admirals and some naval fragments'' published in 1957, Beckett is described as "an Elizabethan character, who was rough, tough, large and strong, and his words smelt of tar, spunyarn, sound commonsense and humour." The author, Commander Geoffrey Lowis RN, included a chapter on Beckett whom he thought a great character. Much of this article is drawn from that book.

Early life

Beckett was born in Bilaspur in the Central Provinces of India on 25 March 1893. He was the younger son of Brigadier-General William Thomas Clifford Beckett CBE, DSO, VD (1862–1956) and Bessie Drummond Thomason, daughter of Major-General Charles Simeon Thomason (1833–1911) of the Bengal Royal Engineers. His older brother Clifford became Major-General Clifford Thomason Beckett CB, CBE, MC (1891–1972) of the Royal Artillery, who had a distinguished military career including being Acting General Officer Commanding Malta in 1942.

Prior to his military career Beckett's father William had been a senior Civil Engineer, working on behalf of the Indian government. At the time of W.N.T. Beckett's birth, his father was in charge of constructing the first railway bridges over the Orissa rivers on the East Coast Extension of the Bengal – Nagpur Railway, completing the connection between the cities of Calcutta and Madras. In 1901, he was awarded the Gold Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers for a paper he presented on his completed project.

The family returned to Great Britain for the boys education, and lived near Grantown-on-Spey in Scotland, where Beckett loved wandering the hills and glens of Speyside.

Beckett boarded at Park House School in Kent and in 1906 he entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne, where he excelled at sports and became friends with fellow cadet Prince Edward, the future King Edward VIII. Beckett won innumerable cups and medals for boxing, bayonet fighting, sabres and foils at the Naval Colleges, and later in the fleet and at the Royal Naval and Military Tournament.

Prince Edward and Beckett both joined the battleship HMS ''Hindustan'' as midshipmen in August 1911, and served together for a period of three months, until Edward was sent to Magdalen College, Oxford, for further studies.

After two years as a midshipman Beckett was promoted to Acting Sub-Lieutenant and he was also playing fullback in the Navy rugger team.

World War I

Harwich Force

Beckett served as Sub-Lieutenant in the destroyer HMS ''Legion'', of Commodore Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt's Harwich Force, and took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight and the Battle of Dogger Bank. It was about this time he brought out a pamphlet, subsequently published by the Admiralty, 'Questions in Dutch and German for Boarding Officers'. When HMS ''Amphion'', the first Royal Naval ship to be sunk during the First World War, was going down, Beckett was aboard searching for survivors, and became the hero of a tale often told. ''Amphion'' blew up and Beckett found himself sailing through the air amongst a cloud of bric-a-brac, and amongst it was the wardroom clock, of which Beckett observed the time as he tumbled through the air and into the sea.

During his time on ''Legion'', Beckett developed a reputation as an excellent seaman, and a practitioner of fine nautical skills and knot-work. These skills and his attention to detail became legendary in the Service, and many shoddy jobs were discarded with the words, "That would never do for Joe Beckett".

While Beckett was serving with the Harwich Force, he was befriended by the renowned English author Rudyard Kipling, and was invited to his home Bateman's, in East Sussex. Kipling was very interested in the Royal Navy, and used Beckett as a source of information for his 1916 naval classic, "Sea Warfare". In one of Kipling's letters, he colourfully describes his meeting with Lieutenant Beckett, and states "he held us breathless or weak with laughter". Beckett also enjoyed their meeting, and went on to visit Bateman's again. He found they had various common interests, including a connection to India, where both men had been born. Kipling had previously based the character ''Findlayson'', the hero of his story ''The Bridge Builders'' on Beckett's great uncle, the well known Indian bridge-builder Frederick Thomas Granville Walton.

Coastal Motor Boats (DSC)

From April 1916 until the end of World War I, Beckett was employed in Coastal Motor Boats (CMB's), with a group of bright young officers known as the 'Suicide Club'.

In May 1916, Beckett took command of the newly built HM Coastal Motor Boat 4, designed by Sir John Thornycroft. CMB No. 4 was one of a series of small, shallow draft vessels used during World War I. Operated by a crew of three, it was capable of . The main armament was a single torpedo in a trough abaft the cockpit (from which it was launched tail-first over the stern by a cordite-powered ram). It also had four .303 in Lewis machine guns.

While in command of CMB No. 4, Beckett carried out duties of CMB Flotilla Signal Officer, and he trained personnel and conducted smoke trials and experiments.
In August 1916, he took command of 3rd Division CMB Flotilla. In December 1916, he proceeded to Dunkirk

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