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{{Short description|English civil servant and historian}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Ronald Brymer Beckett
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 17 January 1891
| birth_place = [[Rawdon, West Yorkshire|Rawdon]], Yorkshire
| death_date = 1 December 1970
| death_place = [[Northmoor, Oxfordshire|Northmoor]], Oxfordshire
| other_names =
| occupation = [[Indian Civil Service]]
| known_for =
}}
'''Ronald Brymer Beckett''' (17 January 1891 - 1 December 1970) was a British administrator in the [[Indian Civil Service]] and later an art historian.

==Early life and education==
Ronald Beckett was born on 17 January 1891 in [[Rawdon, West Yorkshire|Rawdon]], Yorkshire, to James Robertson Beckett, a wool and silk merchant, and his wife Annie Bertha Murray, a schoolteacher.<ref name=ODNB2004>{{Citation |title=Beckett, Ronald Brymer |date=23 September 2004|work=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|last=Beckett|first=Elisabeth|editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/45949 |access-date=28 February 2026 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/45949 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="BritLib">{{cite web |last=O'brien|first=John|title=Papers of Ronald Brymer Beckett, High Court Judge at Lahore |url=https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/papers-of-ronald-brymer-beckett-high-court-judge-at-lahore |website=www.bl.uk|date=15 December 2025 |access-date=28 February 2026 |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260403092036/https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/papers-of-ronald-brymer-beckett-high-court-judge-at-lahore|archive-date=3 April 2026}}</ref> At the age of four, his family relocated to [[Pocklington]].<ref name=ODNB2004/> Two years later, following an episode of [[measles]], he was sent to [[Talbot Heath School|Talbot Heath School for Girls]] in [[Bournemouth]], before continuing his education at Highbury House School in [[St Leonards, Dorset|St. Leonards]] and subsequently at [[Woodbridge School]].<ref name=ODNB2004/> In 1907, he attained the highest grades nationally in his Higher Certificate examinations, securing his admission to Lincoln College, Oxford, from where he graduated with third class in Classics, before joining the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1914.<ref name=ODNB2004/><ref name=BritLib/>

==Career==
In November 1914 Beckett arrived in India, where he was appointed Assistant Commissioner in Punjab.<ref name=BritLib/> Having been declared unfit for military service in 1917, he entered the Middle Temple to read for the Bar.<ref name=ODNB2004/> After recovering from [[Spanish flu|influenza]] he was posted to Amritsar.<ref name=ODNB2004/> In 1919, Beckett, then assistant commissioner at Amritsar, was present alongside [[Miles Irving]], deputy commissioner, and [[John Ferguson Rehill|John F. Rehill]], deputy superintendent of police, at the arrest of the Indian political leaders [[Saifuddin Kitchlew]] and [[Satyapal]] on 10 April that year.<ref name=Wagner.74>Wagner, pp. 74-77</ref> When in response a large Indian crowd proceeded to Irving's residence to request their release, Beckitt was assigned to prevent their entry into the [[Civil Lines|European residential quarter]].<ref name=Wagner.77>Wagner, pp. 78-82</ref> Later that year he gave testimony to the official British inquiry into the Punjab disturbances, the Hunter Committee.<ref name=Wagner.225>Wagner, p. 225</ref>

During his career in India Beckett's posts included being guardian to the [[Nawab of Mamdot]], and Judge at the [[Lahore High Court|High Court of Lahore]].<ref name=BritLib/>

Beckett returned to England after October 1946 and took to art history.<ref name=BritLib/> Artists he studied include [[John Constable]], [[William Blake]], [[Thomas Gainsborough]], [[Thomas Rowlandson]], [[J. M. W. Turner]], [[Peter Lely]] and [[Richard Wilson (painter)|Richard Wilson]].<ref name="Cal">{{cite web |title=Beckett (R. B.) English artist research files, approximately 1880s-1967|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8086b2k/ |website=oac.cdlib.org |publisher=University of California |access-date=2 March 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260403091408/https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8086b2k/|archive-date=3 April 2026}}</ref>

==Personal and family==
Beckett married Norah Ford Anderson in 1918.<ref name=ODNB2004/> She would later return to England on two occasions to give birth to their two daughters.<ref name=ODNB2004/> He wrote two novels and became a [[stamp collecting|collector of stamps]], [[Indian painting|Indian miniatures]], and sculptures.<ref name=ODNB2004/>

==Death==
Beckett died on 1 December 1970 in [[Northmoor, Oxfordshire|Northmoor]], Oxfordshire.<ref name=ODNB2004/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last1=Wagner |first1=Kim A.|author-link=Kim A. Wagner |title=Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear & the Making of a Massacre |date=2019 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-24546-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bziIDwAAQBAJ|language=en}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, Ronald Brymer}}
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:People from Rawdon, West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:British philatelists]]
[[Category:People educated at Talbot Heath School]]
[[Category:People educated at Woodbridge School]]
[[Category:English art historians]]

Ronald Brymer Beckett - Revision history

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