[2] He served in France and Belgium with the East Surrey Regiment, winning the Military Cross in 1917[5] in the same week as he celebrated his 21st birthday.
[1] In 1919 Beechman was a co-founder of the political publication Oxford Outlook,[3] a left-leaning magazine whose main protagonist was the later author and journalist Beverley Nichols.
One of those engaged in its revival after the war was Gilbert Murray, Professor of Greek and who Beechman, as a Liberal and classics scholar, must have encountered and respected.
In 1931 Beechman was nominated as Liberal candidate for Oldham but in the event the party chose not to contest the seat in the context of the 1931 general election after the formation of the National Government which it at first supported.
[6] However at some point between 1931 and 1935, Beechman broke with the mainstream Liberal Party and began to support that section of the party led by Sir John Simon which continued to be part of the National Government when the orthodox Liberals under Herbert Samuel broke with the government over the traditional policy of Free trade after the Ottawa agreements of 1932.
In a hard-fought contest against former Liberal MP Isaac Foot, Beechman held the seat by just 210 votes (or 0.8% of the poll.
[1] Beechman continued to live in St Ives after retirement from the House of Commons in a flat overlooking the harbour.