John Harold Whitworth Becke was born in Liverpool on 17th
September 1879. His father was the curate of All Saints Church in Kensington,
but he chose a military career path which would see him serving in the very
first days of the Royal Flying Corps and rising to the rank of Brigadier
General.
His parents James Henry Becke and his wife Edith and
throughout their stay in Liverpool they lived at 13 Marmaduke Street L7. By
1891 they had left the city to move to Beckingham in Nottinghamshire, John
Becke starting his military life in the Sherwood Foresters. He was an infantry
officer in the Second Boer War and after service in India in 1912 he was
seconded in the rank of captain to the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps. He was
awarded his Royal Aero Club aviators certificate on 18 June 1912 flying a
Bristol Biplane at Brooklands. He became the commanding officer of No.6
Squadron at Farnborough, one of the very few squadrons to be established before
the outbreak of the First World War. He served throughout the war, transferring
to the Royal Air Force on its creation in April 1918. Having risen to the rank
of Brigadier General, he continued in the RAF until 1920.
He was a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Air Force Cross. Mentioned in
despatches twice, he also received the Croix de Guerre and was an officer the
French Legion of Honour. He died in Scotland on 7th February 1949.
