Trevor Beeson

The Very Reverend
Trevor Beeson
OBE AKC FKC
Dean of Winchester
In office
1987–1996
Personal details
Born
Trevor Randall Beeson

(1926-03-02)2 March 1926
Gedling, England
Died17 October 2023(2023-10-17) (aged 97)
Spouse
Josephine Cope
​
​
(m. 1950; died 1997)​
Education

Trevor Randall Beeson OBE AKC FKC (2 March 1926 – 17 October 2023) was a British Anglican clergyman who was Dean of Winchester in the last two decades of the 20th century. He was also a writer, authoring numerous books and working as an ecclesiastical obituarist.[1]

Biography

Beeson was born in Gedling in 1926.[2] He was educated at King's College London, studied theology at St Boniface College, Warminster, and was ordained in 1952.[3]

He began his career with a curacy in Leadgate, County Durham, after which he was priest in charge of St Chad, Stockton-on-Tees[4] and then on the staff of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square.[5] Following this he was Vicar of Ware, Hertfordshire and Canon Treasurer of Westminster.[6] He served as Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1982 to 1987,[3] before his elevation to the Deanery. He contributed obituaries to The Daily Telegraph and was a columnist for The Guardian.[2] In retirement Beeson wrote a book about his fellow Deans.[7]

In 1976 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on Beeson the Lambeth degree of Master of Arts.[3] He was appointed OBE in the 1997 New Year Honours "for services to the Church of England, particularly as Dean of Winchester Cathedral."[8] He was awarded an honorary DLitt degree by Southampton University in 1999.[3]

Beeson was married to the former Josephine Cope from 1950 until her death in 1997; they had two daughters. One of Beeson's daughters, Catherine, married Charles Taylor, future Dean of Peterborough; they met whilst Taylor and Beeson were clergy at Westminster Abbey and married there.[2] Beeson died on 17 October 2023, at the age of 97.[9]

Publications

  • New Area Mission: The parish in the new housing estates (Star Books series), A.R. Mowbray & Co., London, 1963.
  • The ministry in new areas, Prism pamphlet no.11, London, 1964.
  • Partnership in ministry (ed.), A.R. Mowbray & Co., London, 1964.
  • Worship in a united church (with Robin Sharp), Star Books for Anglican-Methodist Reunion, second series, no.7, A.R. Mowbray, Oxford, 1964.
  • New Area Ministry (Church's Ministry Series no.2), Church Information Office, Westminster, 1965.
  • The world is the agenda: report of a conference of the World Council of Churches Western European Working Group on The Missionary Structure of the Congregation 25–28 April 1966, Parish & People, London, 1966.
  • An eye for an ear, SCM Press, 1972. ISBN 0-334-00434-9
  • The Church of England in Crisis, Davis-Poynter, London, 1973. ISBN 0-7067-0058-9
  • Discretion and valour: religious conditions in Eastern Europe (written with the advice and assistance of the British Council of Churches Working Party on Religious Conditions in Eastern Europe), with a foreword by Sir John Lawrence, William Collins Sons & Co., Glasgow, for the British Council of Churches, 1974. ISBN 0-00-623689-8
  • Pioneering on the Christian Frontier (Audenshaw Papers no.50), Audenshaw Foundation, Manchester, 1975.
  • To publish or not to publish? (Audenshaw Papers no.51), Audenshaw Foundation, Manchester, 1975.
  • Christians and socialism (Audenshaw Papers no.55), Audenshaw Foundation, Manchester, 1976.
  • Britain today and tomorrow, Collins, London, 1978. ISBN 0-00-625126-9
  • Westminster Abbey, FISA, London, 1981. ISBN 84-378-0854-5
  • Discretion and valour: religious conditions in Russia and eastern Europe (revised edition of 1974 publication), Fount Paperbacks, London, 1982. ISBN 0-00-625701-1
  • A vision of hope: the churches and change in Latin America (ed. with Jenny Pearce), Collins, London, 1984. ISBN 0-00-626698-3
  • A dean's diary: Winchester, 1987-1996, SCM Press, 1997. ISBN 0-334-02754-3
  • Window on Westminster: a Canon's diary, 1976–1987, SCM Press, 1998. ISBN 0-334-02745-4
  • Rebels and reformers: Christian renewal in the twentieth century, SCM Press, 1999. ISBN 0-334-02792-6
  • The bishops, SCM Press, 2002. ISBN 0-334-02867-1
  • Priests And Prelates: The Daily Telegraph Clerical Obituaries (ed. & intro), Continuum, 2002. ISBN 0-8264-6337-1 (new editions 2004, ISBN 0-8264-7133-1, and 2006, ISBN 0-8264-8100-0)
  • The deans, SCM Press, 2004. ISBN 0-334-02987-2
  • The canons: cathedral close encounters, SCM Press, 2006. ISBN 0-334-04041-8
  • Round the Church in 50 years: a personal journey, SCM Press, 2007. ISBN 0-334-04148-1
  • In tuneful accord: the church musicians, SCM Press, 2009. ISBN 0-334-04193-7
  • The church's folk songs: from Hymns Ancient & Modern to Common Prayer 1861-2011, Canterbury Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84825-107-6
  • The Church's other half: women's ministry, SCM Press, 2011. ISBN 0-334-04382-4

Notes

  1. ^ Reflections on the art of the obituarist Tuffill,H: Romsey and District Historical Society: Bulletin no 75, dated 11 May 1997
  2. ^ a b c Bates, Stephen (25 October 2023). "The Very Rev Trevor Beeson obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d BEESON, Very Rev. Trevor Randall, Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2011, accessed 29 March 2012
  4. ^ GENUKI
  5. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory2008/2009 Lambeth, Church House Publishing ISBN 978-0-7151-1030-0
  6. ^ Westminster Abbey- new treasurer The Times Thursday, 23 March 1978; pg. 19; Issue 60264; col E
  7. ^ The Deans, Beeson, T.R: Canterbury, SCM, 2004, ISBN 0-334-02987-2.
  8. ^ Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 December 1996
  9. ^ The Very Reverend Trevor Beeson, Dean of Winchester and veteran obituarist for the Telegraph – obituary The Telegraph
Church of England titles
Preceded by Dean of Winchester
1987–1996 		Succeeded by