Henry Beckles Willson

The journalist, historian, and soldier, was born at Montreal. He was educated at Kingston, Ontario. Willson joined the staff of The Boston Globe in 1887 and was its correspondent in Cuba during the following year. He became the correspondent in Georgia for the New York Herald in 1889. [4]

He travelled to England in 1892, and joined the staff of the London Daily Mail. He returned to Canada and married Ethel Grace Dudley on 28 June 1899, they returned to England settling in London at Talbot Road Paddington. They had two sons Gordon Beckles (b.1902) and Robert (b.1908) and one daughter Clare (b.1906) -all became journalists. Later on he became a free-lance writer and a prolific author. Several of his books explored Canadian history and issues. The family lived for a while at Quebec House Westerham Kent in 1911, once the childhood home of James Wolfe (1727-1759). [5]

He served as a senior officer with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War and recounted his experiences in the Battle of Ypres in two books, In the Ypres Salient (1916) and Ypres (1920). [6] He served as a (acting) Major attached to the HQ staff and invalided out in 1916. He became a prolific author, mainly of historical and political works. He was instrumental in the creation of the Imperial War Museum in his role as the museum’s field agent, where he believed the collections should reflect the detail of battle and involvement of ordinary soldiers at ground level. [7]

Grace died at Quebec House Westerham Kent in 1920. He re-married French born Ida Lavinia Parkes in Chelsea in the spring of 1924. During WW2 Beckles was interned in France and died in Beaulieu-sur-mer in September 1942 with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, aged 73.[8] Ida died in March 1965.

Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe owned the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror and, therefore, greatly influenced British popular opinion. He bought several failing newspapers and made them into an enormously profitable chain, primarily by appealing to the popular taste. In May 1896, he launched the Daily Mail "the busy man's daily journal" in London.
In 1898, he founded the Harmsworth Magazine (later The London Magazine 1898-1915), edited by Beckles Willson, one of Britain's best editors. [9]

• Harold; an experiment (1891)
• Drift (1895). Verse, 85 pages[10]
• Tenth island; being some account of Newfoundland, its people, its politics, its problems, and its peculiarities; with an introduction by the Rt. Hon. Sir William Whiteway ... and some remarks on Newfoundland and the navy (1897)
• The great company, 1667–1871: being a history of the honourable company of merchants-adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay; with an introduction by Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal with original drawings by Arthur Heming (1899)[11]
• Lord Strathcona: the story of his life; with forewords by the Duke of Argyll and the Earl of Aberdeen. With 8 illustrations (1902)
  • The life of Lord Strathconan and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O.
• Lost England; the story of our submerged coasts (1902)
• The new America; a study of the imperial republic (1903)
• Ledger and sword (1903)
• Story of rapid transit; with thirty-seven illustrations (1903)
• Nattevandring (1905)
• Canada; with twelve reproductions from original coloured drawings by Henry Sandham (1907). A book for young people[12]
• George III, as man, monarch and statesman (1907)
• Occultism and common-sense; with an introduction by Prof. W.F. Barrett (1908)
• Life and letters of James Wolfe (1909)
• Nova Scotia: the province that has been passed by (1911)
• Quebec, the Laurentian province (1913)
• Aglaia of Melos (1914). Verse
• In the Ypres salient; the story of a fortnight's Canadian fighting, June 2-16, 1916 (1916) Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. London (re-published in 2016)
• Ypres, the holy ground of British arms (1920)
• Redemption; a novel (1924). 399 pages
• Paris embassy; a narrative of Franco-British diplomatic relations 1814-1920 (1927). 368 pages
  • Ambassade d'Angleterre à Paris (1814-1920): un siècle de relations diplomatiques franco-britanniques (1929)
• America's ambassadors to France (1777–1927): a narrative of Franco-American diplomatic relations (1928)
• America's ambassadors to England (1785-1928): a narrative of Anglo-American diplomatic relations (1928)
  • America's ambassadors to England (1785-1929): a narrative of Anglo-American diplomatic relations (1929)
• From Quebec to Piccadilly and other places, some Anglo-Canadian memories (1929)
• If I had fifty millions! (1931)
• John Slidell and the Confederates in Paris (1862–65) (1932)
• Friendly relations; a narrative of Britain's ministers and ambassadors to America (1791–1930) (1934)

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Henry Beckles Willson

• Works by Henry Beckles Willson at Project Gutenberg
• List of stories by Beckles Willson, published in The Strand Magazine
• Imperial War Museum image, (WW1 c1917) Catalogue number: HU 128056 (Major Henry Beckles-Willson. Unit: Inspector of War Trophies in the Palestinian Campaign. He was employed to collect exhibits for the Imperial War Museum. On the photograph seen on the Jericho road with sword and flag of Ahmed Cemal Pasha (Djemal Pasha).[]
• IMAGE: National Portrait Gallery, Beckles Willson, (1890s) by James Russell & Sons, Baker Street, London albumen cabinet card, NPG x27436 []