Son of William a’Beckett, attorney, by his wife Sarah Abbot, a strenuous supporter of municipal reform. He came of a Wiltshire family which claimed direct descent from the father of St Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. His elder brothers were Sir William a’Beckett (1806-1869), Chief Justice of Victoria, and Gilbert a’Beckett (1811-1856), Metropolitan Police Magistrate, contributor to *Punch*, and author of the *Comic Histories* of England and Rome. His third brother was the Honorable Thomas a’Beckett of Melbourne, Victoria. Arthur a’Beckett was born in Golden Square, London, and after serving his apprenticeship became a student of the London University, now University College, in 1834. Here he gained prizes, and as soon as he had qualified he served as Staff Surgeon in the British Legion in Spain, from 1835-1837, and was placed on the staff of Sir de Lacy Evans. For his services he was decorated Knight of San Ferdinand, an Order for distinguished service on the field of battle, a cross and medal for the battle of San Sebastian and the skirmish at Irun. He went to Sydney in June, 1839, and was appointed one of the first members of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, acted as a surgeon to the Benevolent Asylum, an examiner in the medical faculty of the University of Sydney, a trustee of the Australian Museum, and a trustee of the Grammar School at Sydney. He lived for thirty years in Sydney, and made only two visits home – on the first occasion to improve his medical knowledge, when he spent some time in Paris; on the second occasion in the hope of retiring from practice. Heavy financial losses in colonial companies frustrated this desire, and in 1865 he returned to Australia, resumed his practice, and died on May 23rd, 1871. Speaking of his work in the Army, Sir Rutherford Alcock (q.v.) said of him: “I have shared the same quarters with you, slept in the same bivouac, watched and worked with you among the sick and wounded. In all these various situations your conduct as a gentleman, your skill and humanity as a surgeon, your ready compliance as a soldier with all instructions however hazardous or trying the execution, make me regret that a land so distant should render our meting again for many years improbable.” Similar testimony was made in 1871, when his obituary notice recorded that “skill and ability” were not the only qualifications. Sterling honest and outspoken truthfulness were his great characteristics. Honest and honourable himself, he was the fearless and unflinching opponent of every form of dishonest and dishonourable practice in others. To every species of imposture he was a sworn foe. His aim was to render the profession which he practised worthy of the respect and esteem of the world, and no line of conduct met with his approval which was not in accordance with this end. A roughly engraved portrait of him wearing his four decorations for Spanish service appears in the *New South Wales Medical Gazette*, vol. i.