William Beckett (engineer)

He was particularly noted for his bridging of the rivers in Orissa, for which he was awarded the Stephenson Gold Medal and the Telford Premium.

For many years, Beckett was an officer in the Bengal-Nagpur Railway Rifles, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel commanding the battalion.

On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he joined the British Army and in 1915 was given command of the 1st/12th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, a pioneer battalion which he commanded for the rest of the war, being awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1918.

[3] In 1919 he was given command of the British Military Railway Mission in Siberia and Manchuria during the Russian Civil War and was later given the rank of brigadier-general.

He was mentioned in dispatches four times and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Siberian War Honours of January 1920.