Frank Beavington 1927-2020

Frank Beavington was born 6^th October 1927 in the small rural Bedfordshire village of Hulcote. He was educated at Thurleigh Primary School and Luton Technical College. His career began on leaving school in 1942, aged 15. He worked in Luton Borough Council for over three years studying part-time for the London Matriculation. In 1945 he was called up into the RAF. On release after two and a half years, with an ex-serviceman’s grant and further university entrance exams, he went to University College Southampton to study geography. Then to Cambridge and Fitzwilliam House for the postgraduate teacher’s certificate course. In the next five years as a teacher in two London schools, Frank researched for a London PhD from Birkbeck College in the evenings. After three years in Teacher Training Colleges, he moved to Aberdeen University to study for his MSc in soil science. Then followed 11 years overseas in Australia and Nigeria (as Professor of Geography) where he did research into air pollution in conjunction with Harwell. Returning to England in 1978 with a wife and three young sons, Frank bought a dairy farm in Kent and, in 1981, accepted the post of Head of Environmental and Geographical Studies at Roehampton Institute. In 1989, after taking early retirement, he continued to run the 200-acre farm in dairying, then beef, pick-you-own soft fruit, and arable crops. He also converted three barns in Cornwall. In latter years, Frank and his wife travelled widely – Antarctica (with the Cambridge alumni group), Northern Canada, USA, the Atacama Desert, Australia, and the Baltic.

Frank died suddenly on 2 September 2020 of a heart attack, a month before his 93^rd birthday. The day before he had ridden in the combine harvester overseeing the barley harvest on his beloved farm.

BA (Lond), PhD (Lond), MSc (Aberd), CertEd (Cantab), FIInstSoil Sci