A lighted hearted introduction to who’s who in Beccles history, from Anglo-Saxon times to the 20th Century, including those who left their names, marks and legacies firmly imprinted on this riverside market town.
Anglo-Saxon (950s) teen-king Ed traded Beccles Manor for St Edmund’s blessing. But reigning just 4 years, his bargain backfired. Or did it?
In 1066 the storming Normans found Beccles already in French hands (those of Bury St Edmund’s Abbot Baldwin!) so left the town alone.
It prospered under Abbey rule until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.
Bill the Elder bought Beccles Fen back for the townsfolk with the 1539 town purse. Son, Billy, bought Beccles Manor.
However, accused of dodgy-dealing, the ensuing decades of disputes were resolved only by Elizabeth I! In 1584, she granted a charter to the town to restore the peace and justice. You’ll find the historic handover of the charter to John Baas, the first ‘portreeve’ or bailiff of Beccles, from Queen Elizabeth I immortalised on town sign.
This Dick Whittington character and Beccles benefactor had a real a zest for life and education. John slipped from butter/cheese-trader to becoming a Fishmongers’ Guild supremo, and finally landed the ultimate catch – Lord Mayor of London (1616).
Spot the lemons on his coat of arms!
Grand-niece of Britain’s first Prime Minister, Barsham-born Kate fell for and married a Beccles curate in St Michael’s Church. As Mrs Nelson, she had 11 children including, Horatio, named after Horace Walpole. The rest is naval history…
At a young age, Dorothy convinced her Beccles schoolteachers to let her do chemistry rather than cookery.
In 1964, she won the Nobel Prize for work enabling the mass synthetic production of penicillin.
Beccles’ long association with medicine/nursing may have started under Abbey rule when herbology-trained Benedictines possibly founded the town’s leper hospital (1267).
By Guest Blogger – Local writer & all-round Suffolk fan, Lindsay Want.
