Editing Richard Beeching (section)

== Later years ==
Upon returning to ICI, Beeching was appointed liaison director for the agricultural division and organisation and services director. He later rose to become deputy chairman from 1966 to 1968. In the [[1965 Birthday Honours]]<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43667 |date=12 June 1965 |page=5471 |supp=y}}</ref> it was announced that he would be made a [[life peer]], and he was created '''Baron Beeching''', ''of [[East Grinstead]] in the [[County of Sussex]]'' on 7 July 1965,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43708 |date=9 July 1965 |page=6519}}</ref> in the same year he became a director of [[Lloyds Bank (historic)|Lloyds Bank]].
In 1966 he was appointed as chairman of the [[Royal Commission]] to examine assizes and quarter sessions; he eventually proposed a mass reorganisation of the court system, involving the setting-up of regional courts in cities such as [[Cardiff]], [[Birmingham]] and [[Leeds]] leading to the [[Courts Act 1971]].

The following year he became chairman of [[Associated Electrical Industries]], a role he also held with [[Redland plc|Redland]] from 1970 to 1977, [[Furness Withy]] from 1973 to 1975 and the Economic Insurance Company.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Mosley|editor-first=Charles |title=Debrett's Handbook 1982, Distinguished People in British Life|year=1981|publisher=Debrett's Peerage Limited|page=129|isbn=0-905649-38-9}}</ref> In 1968 he was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the [[Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland]]. He chose the subject "Organisation".<ref name="MacmillanLecture1968">{{cite web |url=http://www.iesis.org/macmillan.html |title=Hugh Miller Macmillan |work=Macmillan Memorial Lectures |publisher=[[Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004102303/http://www.iesis.org/macmillan.html |archive-date=2018-10-04 |access-date=2019-01-29 }}</ref>

On 21 May 1969, Beeching performed the official opening ceremony for the [[heritage railway]] between [[Totnes]] and [[Ashburton, Devon|Ashburton]], then known as the [[South Devon Railway (heritage railway)|Dart Valley Railway]].<ref>Lord Beeching re-opens the Dart Valley ''[[Railway World]]'' issue 350 July 1969 page 285</ref>

He died at [[Queen Victoria Hospital]], [[East Grinstead]], in March 1985.<ref name="egnet"/>

[[File:Beeching2.svg|thumb|right|The lines chosen in the 'Beeching II' report "for future development". The fate of other lines was not discussed.]]