Miles Beevor (8 March 1900 in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– 9 September 1994 in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

) was a solicitor, pilot and businessman. The son of Rowland Beevor and Margaret Frances Evans, Beevor was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, and graduated from

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in 1921 with a Bachelor of Arts. He qualified a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

in 1925, and latterly held the office of Justice of the Peace for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he joined the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force ( ...

and gained the rank of flight lieutenant in 1941. He became chief legal advisor for

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...

in 1943, a post he held until the LNER was nationalised. In light of his service, on 1 November 1947 the LNER named an LNER A4 Pacific after himFotopic.Net
Just before nationalisation, Beevor was acting chief general manager for LNER in June 1947, after which he became Chief Secretary and legal advisor for the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the s ...

between 1947 and 1951. Beevor was

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Brush Group Ltd between 1954 and 1958, as the company pushed into producing diesel locomotives for the newly founded

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

, to replace their steam fleet. Beevor died on 9 September 1994 at the age of 94.

Personal life

Beevor married Margaret Florence Platt, daughter of Algernon John Frederick Platt, on 17 September 1924. The couple had two children, Susan (born 1927, died 1948) and John (born 1930, died 2001). After Margaret's death on 15 February 1934 he married Sybil Gilliat, daughter of Lt.-Col. John Babington Gilliat (and sister of Lt Col Sir Martin Gilliat), on 23 April 1935. The couple had three children, Antony (born 1940), Helen (born 1943) and Ronald (born 1947).

References

External links

Beevor's entry at The Peerage.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beevor, Miles 1900 births 1994 deaths People educated at Winchester College Alumni of New College, Oxford Royal Air Force officers London and North Eastern Railway people Businesspeople from Wolverhampton Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Military personnel from the London Borough of Barnet People from Hendon