Major Beeton to Mrs Beeton

Following our recent stories on Richard Carver, we have been given another piece of interesting information by Christopher Beeton.

 

He recalls that Dick Carver also had a stepson, Rex Stephenson, with whom Christopher served at HQ BAOR (British Army of the Rhine). Brigadier Rex Stephenson CBE (Retired) now lives near Salisbury. 

 

Christopher himself has a colourful past, or to give him his correct full title: Major Christopher Beeton MBE (Retired). After a bit of continued pressing, we are pleased to be able to recall elements of Christopher's life and career.

 

Major Christopher Beeton MBE (Retired)
2013 -Photo by Barbara Rousseau

Christopher was born in 1929, on his retirement in 1984, he moved with his family to Milford on Sea . His 'in-laws' lived in Boldre; so close by, but not too near!

Christopher was a NFDC Councillor for Milford on Sea from 1991 to 1999 (Deafness prevented him standing again.) He also was a member of the Parish Council for a few years, for much of the time the 'Civil Emergencies Adviser' at a time when Milford suffered from floods and flood risks. (His daughter-in-law, Sophie is a current NFDC Councillor for Milford as well as a Parish Councillor.).

He was a director of the Milford Millennium Hall and Community Centre, is a Trustee of Milford United Charities, and has been an enthusiastic volunteer during Milford on Sea Food Week.

His Milford links actually go back a bit further than 1984. In 1948/49, when a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), Christopher was Secretary of the RMAS Sailing Club, which had three bell tents in which they frequently week-ended at Normandy Farm in Lymington. The cadets were temporary members of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club for a £5 annual subscription, and also the Lymington Town Sailing Club for 2/6!  They also regularly crewed on cross channel yacht races for local skippers including some living in Milford on Sea.

Military Career: Christopher's time in the army certainly enabled him to see the world. His career started in 1948 with 'Other Rank' service, serving ten months at Oswestry and Larkhill, after which he attended officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) until December 1949.

 'Snowdon 'Knife Edge' 1955
Christopher & Gunner (mostly
National Service) Signals Trainees
Christopher is wearing the rope.
*Click image to enlarge

From 1950 to 1953 he was posted to Malta for three years, which also included a couple of months training at Garian in Libya each Summer.  This was followed by stints in:  Rhyl in North Wales, teaching Gunner Signallers and enjoying himself in Snowdonia, Larkhill in the Medium Regiment firing for Royal School of Artillery (RSA) courses, London as Adjutant of a TA Regiment, Larkhill again for an 18 month on a Counter Bombardment (CB) Staff Course, Instructor in Artillery Intelligence at the Royal School of Artillery, then to Germany as a Corps Artillery Intelligence Officer at HQ 1 (British) Corps.

In 1965/66 Christopher was posted to Borneo for a year. For first six months he was the Battery Captain in a Light Regiment, followed by Battery Commander (BC) of a hastily formed 'ad hoc' Locating Battery in Borneo when the Indonesians reinforced their artillery.


Borneo 1965
Christopher examining a shell crater to find
out where the (Indonesian) gun was deployed
....."This sort of task was really my forte."
*Click image to enlarge

1967 saw him back in Germany again as a Battery Commander of a gun locating battery.  1969 to 1972 he spent the first year as Second-in-Command and then two years as Commandant of the (British) Army Outward Bound Centre in Norway. (Christopher says that his main raison d’etre was "To take the can if anything went wrong!")  



Borneo 1965

Setting up a roving gun position

 (Christopher is one wearing a hat.)

*Click image to enlarge

In 1973, again in Germany, he ran the artillery intelligence desk at HQ BAOR (British Army of the Rhine). Rex Stephenson was also in the same branch. Christopher recalls; "Rex and I were both in Intelligence Branch when at HQ BAOR and, because it was during the "Cold War" that posting was particularly interesting. Intelligence staff desk work requires little more than common sense, a little background experience, perseverance and not taking ANY other agency’s reports at face value. Rex was younger than me and a ‘high flyer’ so deserved to get where he did."


Borneo 1965
Setting up a roving gun position
 *Click image to enlarge

He returned to the UK in 1975 to join HQ UK Land Forces (UKLF) at Wilton in Wiltshire (Future Developments). In 1977  he joined the HQ of an Armoured Division shortly before it moved from UK to near the Mohnesee Dam (of 'Dambusters' fame) in Germany. Christopher remained there until returning to the UK on retirement in 1984.

Sheila Beeton - 1958

MBE Awarded: Christopher's MBE was awarded in 1981. He modestly explains; "The MBE was for a number of minor reasons, in my case these included setting up Divisional Ski Championships from scratch in East Bavaria and later also in Austria as well as helping revive the initially failing NATO Sailing Club on the Mohnesee. But the award was also largely because of the fantastic job my late wife, Sheila, did with the British Services youth in BAOR. She had been appointed Commissioner for the Guides in the Armoured Division's area when it moved out to Germany in 1977 because she had once assisted with a Brownie pack in Wilton! But she really threw herself into the task which she found both rewarding and enjoyable. Later she was appointed Assistant Commissioner for (all the) British Guides in Germany (BGIG) as well as still running her own Division's. She was also appointed a sort of Magistrate for any British service families' youth who had committed some misdemeanour. When not engaged in these activities she taught other wives dinghy sailing and brought up our four children."

MBE Medal

Sheila Beeton, Christopher's wife, passed away in Oakhaven Hospice in 1995, only a few hours after chairing, as Centre Organizer, a meeting of the British Red Cross staff in Lymington.

Early Life: During WW2, Christopher's Prep School (Abinger Hill School near Dorking, Surrey) was taken over as a Canadian Brigade HQ and he and the other pupils were sent to a school at Ashbury College in Ottawa, Canada.

Abinger Hill School
*click image to enlarge

Christopher recalls that whilst at Abinger Hill School, parents' visits always welcome as meant lunch and Stone Ginger Beer at Abinger Hammer!

As his father had died in 1942, Christopher returned early from Canada (with one other boy) via the USA, Azores, Portugal and Eire.

Immediately after the War he and his nine year older brother did a fair amount of mountain walking in France and Austria. Having caught the ‘travel bug’ he joined the (Regular) Army primarily to do just that. In those days National Service was in full swing and one had to serve two years anyway, plus the Army offered one of the few opportunities to get abroad for any reasonable length of time. Moreover the Army also had an advantage over the other services in that it usually had two or three year postings which enabled him, when abroad, to get to know the inhabitants as well as being able to visit other nearby countries when on leave.

Fairy Godmother: Christopher recalls a couple of close shaves, and thanks a Fairy Godmother that has kindly looked after him well!

"In mid Atlantic while on our way to Canada in 1940 the ship ahead of us, carrying German and Italian POWs, was torpedoed instead of us. When this happened our engines were stopped and we wallowed in a most uncomfortable manner. I was on the lowest deck, below the waterline, and began to feel sick. Having struggled up to the open deck I made for the side where one of the crew stopped me, asking “What’s wrong with you, Boy?” After my reply he said “You can’t be sick, only little girls are seasick!”. To a ten year old boy that did the trick. In spite of many opportunities since, I have never been seasick and nor have any of my men while serving under me!"

"When we reached Lisbon on our return voyage we were told that we would be flying to Eire the following night. But when they realised that we were two twelve year old boys travelling on our own, the authorities changed their minds and decided to get rid of us that night. The following night’s flight, on which we should have flown, included Leslie Howard (Steiner) a famous actor of the time. The airplane was shot down with no survivors."

Poole-Cherbourg 1950
*Click image to  enlarge 

Cross Channel Racing: Attached is a menu for one of the cross channel races that Christopher participated in, Poole to Cherbourg in 1950. From the look of the menu there was no hardship on land! The document on the right contains signatures of skippers and crews taking part, some of these or their relatives are still understood to be in the area. 

Christopher & The Beetons: Christopher is a distant descendant of the iconic Victorian cookbook writer, Mrs Beeton. The link is from a cousin and down. Mrs Beeton's husband, Samuel Orchart Beeton (S.O. Beeton), was prolific both as an author and publisher, and his publications covered almost every subject. Some are quite fascinating and really bring the 1850s to life.

There is no complete collection, and Christopher is accumulating what he can in the hope that one day his family will find a Library that will take an interest in them.

 

Mrs Beeton's Cookbook

Isabella Mary Beeton (Isabella Mary Mayson), was universally known as Mrs Beeton, and the author of the famous 'Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management'. The book was first published in 1861. Prior to this, it had been published in twenty four monthly parts from November 1859 to October 1861. (Another popular name for the volume is Mrs Beeton's Cookbook).

 

The book had 1,112 pages, with over 900 pages of recipes, passages on cooking advice, servants pay and children's health. By 1868 nearly two million copies had been sold.

 

Surprisingly, she only lived 29 years, from 12 March 1836 to 6 February 1865.

 

Sam & Isabella Beeton
*click image to enlarge

A book on Isabella Beeton entitled; 'The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton: The First Domestic Goddess', was written by Kathryn Hughes, who thanked Christopher for being an exemplary host and for his encyclopaedic knowledge of S.O. Beeton’s publications.

 

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Other Connected Stories:
 

Col Richard Carver OBE Update: click here to read story

Monty, Richard & Milford!: click here to read story

BAOR (British Army of the Rhine): click here