John Samuel Beck was born at the Chapel Yard, Duke Street in Sheffield. He is the son of John Beck (1835-1913) and Hannah Beck nee Fox (1838-1907). We do not know much about his childhood. John Samuel Beck appears to have been a fairly serious character unlike his father, the caretaker of the chapel where he was born, who was known for his sense of humour.

At the time of the 1881 census the family is living at 21 Slough Street in Sheffield. John is aged 10. He has 9 siblings. Five brothers and four sisters.

The Industrial Revolution brought large-scale steel making to Sheffield. John was a machinist, a steel turner. The family were not particularly well off and life would be centred around his employment and Church on Sunday. As a dedicated Wesleyan his life would have been very conservative and guided by strict moral codes and rules. John Samuel Beck was in the Sheffield Silver Band and used to play the flute and Piccolo.

On the 24th January 1894 he marries Mary Anne Beck nee Hart at the Park Chapel and in the same year their son Wilfred Beck is born on the 29th October 1894. They are living at 16 Neville Street, Brightside, Sheffield until 1895. They then went to Philadelphia USA for a short period prior to returning to Sheffield. Unfortunately this marriage has no happy ending. By 1901 things are not going well. His wife is staying out late and in 1903 a petition for divorce is served. The local press are eager to report the information which was quite the local scandal at the time.

His ex wife scuttles off to Birmingham with her new husband Henry Wells Brookfield. Some years later they are on a ship to Philadelphia. However, they do not seem to have made a success of it and they return to Sheffield and settle down with their children.

So back to John Samuel Beck. The story has a happy ending. He marries Alice Maud Osborne in 1908 and Donald Beck is born on the 30th April 1910 in Sheffield. John Samuel Beck is now 38 years of age and they have no further additions to the family. His first son Wilfred and his second son Donald are half brothers. The 1911 census shows the family living at 79 Clun Road in Sheffield.

At the time of the outbreak of WWII John Samuel Beck is 67 years old. His son Wilfred is called up for active duty and survives the war and gets married to Edith Beck ( nee Marshall ). Donald Beck ran his own business designing medical instruments for the administration of aneasthetic in hospitals. He married Mary Ellen Porter in Sheffield in 1936.

Alice Beck dies in Sheffield in 1937. His first wife also dies in Sheffield in 1942. John lives with his son Donald at 55 High Storrs Crescent in Sheffield until his death on the 13th October 1947. He is buried at Shire Green Cemetary, Sheffield.

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