LORD DR. RICHARD BEECHING
Lived at Little Manor, East Grinstead
1913-1985
REPORTED ON COST SAVINGS FOR BRITISH RAIL
As Chairman of British Rail in 1963 he recommended the closure of
2,363 stations, 5,000 miles of uneconomic lines 67,700 job losses
One of four sons born to Annie Twigg and Hubert Beeching, a newspaper
sub-editor.
Richard was born in Sheerness but his family moved to Maidstone during
the war. He was a prefect at grammar school, studied physics at Imperial
College, London and then a PhD. He was senior researcher for nickel
extractors Mond Nickel Co. in Birmingham where he lived with his wife
Ella.
During WWII he worked on armament design which lead to senior jobs at ICI.
During the 1950s as freight transport by road was increasing, rail freight revenue was decreasing,
causing unsustainable financial losses. By 1960 Richard joined the British Transport Commission’s
advisory group on the running of railways, sponsored by the Conservative government Transport
Minister Ernest Marples (who introduced the MOT test, yellow lines and traffic wardens for
example). Controversially Marples had financial interests in tarmac and road building – a potential
conflict of interest?
In 1963 the Commission, reframed as the British Railways Board, concluded that more station and
line closures (that had already begun in the 1950s) could save the loss-making network a great deal
of money. Their clinical calculations were doubted and challenged, in one example by a 12 year
old boy, and their solutions were opposed by the public by 5 to 1. Alternative suggestions to large
scale closures were proposed such as using much shorter trains off-peak to greatly reduce wear and
tear costs. But the ‘Beeching Axe’ was largely enacted over the coming years. In 1965 Beeching
unveiled the newly branded British Rail, and was made a life peer ‘Baron Beeching’.
He was living at Little Manor, Lewes Road, East Grinstead when he died at Queen Victoria hospital
in 1985.
NOTES/LINKS
https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/new-transit/news/34564/50-years-on-from-dr-beeching-butcher-or-saviour-of-the
railway
https://www.chuarchivestories.uk/stories/marples-must-g