Trevor Randall Beeson (2 March 1926 – 17 October 2023) was a British Anglican clergyman who was Dean of Winchester in the last two decades of the 20th century. He was also a writer, authoring numerous books and working as an ecclesiastical obituarist.

Biography

Beeson was born in Gedling in 1926. He was educated at King's College London, studied theology at St Boniface College, Warminster, and was ordained in 1952. He began his career with a curacy in Leadgate, County Durham, after which he was priest in charge of St Chad, Stockton-on-Tees and then on the staff of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. Following this he was Vicar of Ware, Hertfordshire and Canon Treasurer of Westminster. He served as Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1982 to 1987, before his elevation to the Deanery. He contributed obituaries to The Daily Telegraph and was a columnist for The Guardian. In retirement Beeson wrote a book about his fellow Deans. In 1976 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on Beeson the Lambeth degree of Master of Arts. He was appointed OBE in the 1997 New Year Honours "for services to the Church of England, particularly as Dean of Winchester Cathedral." He was awarded an honorary DLitt degree by Southampton University in 1999. Beeson was married to the former Josephine Cope from 1950 until her death in 1997; they had two daughters. One of Beeson's daughters, Catherine, married Charles Taylor, future Dean of Peterborough; they met whilst Taylor and Beeson were clergy at Westminster Abbey and married there. Beeson died on 17 October 2023, at the age of 97.

Publications