Morris Beckman (writer)
Morris Beckman | |
---|---|
Born | London, England | 21 February 1921
Died | 24 May 2015 Childs Hill, London, England | (aged 94)
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | English |
Period | 1944–2015 |
Morris Beckman (21 February 1921 – 24 May 2015) was an English writer and anti-fascist activist.[1][2]
Biography
Early life
Morris Beckman was born in the north-eastern
After three months training to become a radio officer, studying Morse code, Beckman was assigned to merchant vessels participating in the Battle of the Atlantic until 1942 and was torpedoed twice.[4] He was posted to Bombay in 1942 and spent two years with the Mogul Line, crewing auxiliary vessels for the Royal Indian Navy across the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Beckman's vessels landed troops at Port Augusta during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 and, three months later, at Taranto during the Allied invasion of Italy. In 1944 his ship was attacked by the Luftwaffe en route to Alexandria, lost a propeller and was towed to Port Sudan. He caught paratyphoid, convalesced in Karachi, then worked his passage back home via Durban and New York.
By 1946 he was permanently onshore back in London and helped to found the 43 Group. He made his home at Amhurst Road in Hackney.
Career
Beckman tried his hand at several businesses and eventually went into partnership with John David Gold to start a men's clothes manufacturer, opening their first factory in Crawley in 1952. The firm steadily expanded, at one time having several factories in the UK and one in Malta. In 1975, faced with increasingly cheap imports from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, the company went into liquidation. Beckman started further small-scale businesses in the same industry, eventually giving up work for writing in the 1980s.
Writing
While working for the Mogul Line, Beckman wrote many articles and short stories which were published in the Sind Gazette and Egyptian Mail amongst other newspapers. His first and only novel, Open Skies and Lost Cargoes, was published by Thacker & Co in
Publications
- Ocean Skies and Lost Cargoes (1944)
- The 43 Group,[6] Centerprise (1993)
- The Hackney Crucible[7] (1996)
- Atlantic Roulette[8] (1996)
- The Jewish Brigade[9] (1999)
- Flying the Red Duster, Spellmount (2011)
Death
He died in 2015, aged 94.[3]
References
- ^ "Morris Beckman fought fascism, home and away - Camden New Journal". camdennewjournal.com. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
- ^ "Anti-fascist hero Morris Beckman dies, aged 94". Jewish News.
- ^ a b Beckman, Jonathan (24 September 2015). "Morris Beckman obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
- ^ "Camden Gulliver: Atlantic survivors - Morris Beckman - Merchant Navy - Vietnam War - Agent Orange - Thackeray". thecnj.com.
- ^ ":: SchNEWS :: Book Reviews - The 43 Group". schnews.org.uk. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
- ^ Calamy, Edmund (1669). "The 43 Group". google.com.
- ISBN 9780853032861.
- ISBN 9781871085327.
- ISBN 9781862270329.