DEATH OF THOMAS BECKHAM, ESQ.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1702, 2 August 1875, Page 2

DEATH OF THOMAS BECKHAM, ESQ.

The announcement of the death of Thomas Beckham, Esq., the Resident Magistrate and JUistiicfc Judge of Auckland, has been received "ith a general feeling of profound regret. The event was unlooked for, and wa3 therefore iho more felt by the public. _ For some time previous co his official visit to Hamilton, Mr Beckham had frequently complained of excess of work, which wa3 accumulating so fast that he felt it "was overpowering his energies, aad business from far outlying districts would have to be resisted. The immediate cause of his death v/as congestion of the lungs, proceeding from a severe cold caught at Hamilton in the previous week, through sleeping in damp sheets. On che 23rd ult., on returning from the railway statiou to the Resident Magistrate's Court, Mr Beckham experienced alternations of heat and cold, which no doubt produced injurious effects upon his system. He described to the writerof thisnotice theaspects of the Waikato under a frost, the iun in the district was half an inch in thickness, and the ferns looked very graceful in their silvery mantles of fro st work. On Saturday, after leaving the Police Court, he felt the real trend of the disease which subsequently carried him off. He kept his bed during the week, and on Friday last hopes were entertained of his speedy recovery, but on Saturday morniugn was evident that a chaugc for the worse had taken place, and he gradually sank, notwithstanding the skill and attention of his medical advisers, Drs G-oldsbro' and Kenderdine, until eleven o'clock on Saturday night when he breathed his last. The Rev L)r. Maunsell was with the patieut for many hours previous to his decease, and on Saturday afternoon administered the sacrament, which was thankfully received by Mr, Beckham. His death was feelingly referrred to in several of our public places of worship yesterday, and at the churches of St. Matthew and St. Paul the "Dead March in Saul", was performed on the congregations leaving church. Mr. Beckham was an Englishman —a native of .Norfolk, in which county he was born in 1810. Having received a liberal education, he entered the army ; and in 1835, while in his 25th year, he landed at Sydney with his regiment, the 2Sth Gloucester Regiment of Foot, in which he held the rank of Lieutenant. He subsequently came to Kew Zealand in the "Diana," and took an active part in the native war ia the Bay of Islands. In 1840 he was appointe I magistrate at Hokianga, and in thu following year he filled the magistrate's chair at ltusseil, where he remained until that settlement, known as Kororareka, was sacked, in 1544. Mr Beckham came to Auckland shortly after, and was appointed by Sir George Grey to the responsible position of Resident Magistrate, which position he faithfully maintained to the period of his death. At one time he was a member of the Provincial and General Assemblies. Polities, however, were not exactly in harmony with his taste, and interfered too rnnch with his other duties, for his continuance publioly in the political fi^ld. As a Magistrate and District Judge, the decieions of xMr Beckham were generally sound and satisfactory. Ia the Police Court, he sometimes evinced a rough style, and evidently had no sympathy with vice. And yet he was by no means an unkind man, as his frequent expres-ions of sympathy with misery and distress sufficiently indicated. Whatever mighb have been his shortcomings, lie was a hard worker, always studying to do the right, and his death will be felfc for some time to come as a public calamity.