Editing Richard Beeching (section)

== Early years ==
Beeching was born in [[Sheerness]] on the [[Isle of Sheppey]] in [[Kent]], the second of four brothers. His father was Hubert Josiah Beeching, a reporter with the ''[[Kent Messenger]]'' newspaper, his mother a schoolteacher and his maternal grandfather a dockyard worker. Shortly after his birth, Beeching's family moved to [[Maidstone]] where his brothers Kenneth (who was killed in the [[World War II|Second World War]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2104658/BEECHING,%20KENNETH%20ROY|title=Casualty}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=
https://www.irishbrigade.co.uk/the-story-of-the-irish-brigade-1942-1947-2/royal-inniskilling-fusiliers-the-skins/they-shall-grow-not-old-inniskilling-fusiliers/ |title=They Shall Grow Not Old - Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (223a - Kenneth Beeching) |publisher=Irish Brigade |date= |access-date=14 June 2021}}</ref> and John were born. All four Beeching boys attended the local [[Church of England]] [[primary school]], Maidstone All Saints, and won scholarships to [[Maidstone Grammar School]], where Richard was a [[Prefect#Academic|prefect]]. Beeching and his elder brother Geoffrey attended [[Imperial College London|Imperial College of Science & Technology]] in London, where both read [[physics]] and took [[First Class Honours (degree)|First Class honours]] degrees. His younger brothers both attended [[Downing College, Cambridge]].<ref name="Hardy">{{cite book | last = Hardy | first = R.H.N. | title = Beeching: Champion of the Railway? | publisher = Ian Allan Ltd | year = 1989 | location = London | pages = 44–48 | url = http://www.bilderberg.org/railways.htm#bio | isbn = 978-0-7110-1855-6 }}</ref>

Beeching remained at Imperial College where he undertook a research [[PhD]] under the supervision of [[George Paget Thomson|Sir George Thomson]]. He continued in research until 1943, first at the Fuel Research Station in [[Greenwich]] in 1936 and then the following year with the [[Mond Nickel Company|Mond Nickel Laboratories]] in London, where he was appointed senior physicist carrying out research in the fields of physics, [[metallurgy]] and [[mechanical engineering]].<ref name="Hardy"/>

In 1938 he married Ella Margaret Tiley, whom he had known since his schooldays. They initially set up home in [[Solihull]], and remained married for the rest of his life. They had no children. During the [[Second World War]] Beeching, at the age of 29, was lent by Mond Nickel on the recommendation of Dr Sykes at [[Firth Brown Steels]] to the [[Ministry of Supply]], where he worked in its Armament Design and Research Departments at [[Fort Halstead]]. His first post was with the Shell Design Section where he had a rank equivalent to that of [[army captain]]. Whilst with Armament Design, Beeching worked under the department's superintendent and chief engineer, [[Frank Ewart Smith|Sir Frank Smith]], a former chief engineer with [[Imperial Chemical Industries]] (ICI).<ref name="Hardy"/>

After the war, Smith returned to ICI as technical director and was replaced as chief engineer of Armament Design by Sir Steuart Mitchell who promoted Beeching, then 33, to the post of deputy chief engineer with a rank equivalent to that of [[brigadier]]. Beeching continued his work with armaments, particularly [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] weaponry and [[small arms]]. In 1948 he joined ICI, as personal technical assistant to Sir Frank Smith; he remained for around 18 months, working on the production lines for various products such as [[zip fastener]]s, [[paints]] and [[leather]]cloth with a view to improving efficiency and reducing production costs. He was then appointed to the Terylene Council, and subsequently to the board of ICI Fibres Division.

In 1953 he went to Canada as vice-president of ICI (Canada) Ltd, and was given overall responsibility for a [[terylene]] plant in [[Ontario]]. He returned after two years to become chairman of [[ICI Metals Division]] on the recommendation of Sir [[Frank Ewart Smith|Ewart Smith]]. In 1957 he was appointed to the ICI board as technical director, and for a short time also served as development director.<ref name="obit">The Times, Obituary, 25 March 1985, p. 12.</ref>