Jack Hesketh Beasley was born in Toronto, Canada on 31 March 1899. He qualified in Canada and came to England, obtaining the FRCS while at the London Hospital. He practised in Blackpool as a surgeon until 1939 when he joined the RAMC and went to France as a surgical specialist with No 4 General Hospital. After the fall of France he was sent to Egypt and retired at the end of the war with the rank of Major. Following demobilisation he entered general practice, at first in Tring and later in Thundersley, Essex. He was an avid reader and historian and also spoke several languages. His grandfather was Colonel Hesketh who was reputed to have fired the last shot in the Crimean War and whose uniform is in the museum in Toronto, Canada. He died in March 1978, aged 79.