Thomas Beeching

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Hugh Pitt Beeching (10 March 1900 – 31 December 1971) was an English businessman, soldier and cricketer who played first-class cricket in the early 1920s.

Thomas Beeching
Personal information
Full name
Thomas Hugh Pitt Beeching
Born(1900-03-10)10 March 1900
Maidstone, Kent
Died31 December 1971(1971-12-31) (aged 71)
Aldershot, Hampshire
BattingRight-handed
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1920–1921Kent
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 10
Runs scored 217
Batting average 16.69
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 38
Catches/stumpings 1/–
Source: CricInfo, 8 March 2017

Early life

Beeching was born at Maidstone in Kent in March 1900, the son of Hugh and Pearl Beeching. His father was a Major in the Royal West Kent Regiment who later went on to work as a manager in a paper manufacturing firm.[1] Beeching was educated at Charterhouse School, playing in the cricket XI in 1917 when he averaged 81.66 runs per innings.[1][2] He also captained Charterhouse at association football, played in the racquets pair and was considered a fine all-round sportsman, winning the victor ludorum award at school.[1]

After leaving school, Beeching attended Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1918 and was commissioned into the Royal West Kents in November 1918 at the end of World War I.[3][4] He served as a Lieutenant with the first and third battalions of the RWK throughout 1920 before resigning his commission in December 1920 to join the family firm Beechings, a motor vehicle engineering company in Aldershot.[1]

Cricket

Beeching had captained the cricket team whilst at Sandhurst. He scored a century against Royal Military Academy, Woolwich at Lord's and on the strength of this performance and his reputation from school cricket, was selected for Kent County Cricket Club in 1920.[1] He played in eight first-class matches during 1920 and two in 1921 as a lower-order batsman,[1][2][5] as well as making a singe Second XI appearance for Kent in 1923. He played club cricket for amateur sides such as Band of Brothers, Free Foresters and I Zingari.[1]

War service

With the threat of war looming, he was activated from the Reserve of Officers in May 1939 and served throughout World War II with the Royal Army Service Corps. He landed in Algeria with the First Army in December 1942 and was awarded an MBE in 1943 whilst serving as a Major involved in logistics operations during the North African campaign.[1][6] He ater served in Italy and was Mentioned in Dispatches in 1944. He reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel before being demobilised in October 1945.[1]

Later life

Beeching had married Elizabeth Harrison in 1929. He was active in motor vehicle trader associations and after World War II was the managing director of Beechings until he retired in 1965.[1] He died at Aldershot in 1971 aged 71.[5]

References
  1. Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part Two: 1919–1939, pp. 17–18. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 30 December 2021.)
  2. Beeching, Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Hugh Pitt, Obituaries in 1971, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1972. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  3. Lewis P (2014) For Kent and Country, p. 37. Brighton: Reveille Press. ISBN 978-1-908336-63-7
  4. Supplement to the London Gazette, The London Gazette, p.1185, 23 January 1919. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  5. Thomas Beeching, CricInfo. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  6. Recommendation for Award for Beeching, Thomas Hugh Pitt Rank, National Archives. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
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