Horace Beasley was the son of the General Manager of the Taff Vale Railway.
The Beasley’s had previously lived in the Chiswick area, with young Horace attending Westminster School where he showed promise as a cricketer and footballer. He subsequently went up to Cambridge to read Law, and whilst in residence at Jesus College, won football Blues between 1896 and 1899, and led the Cambridge XI in his final two years.
On coming down, he opted not to follow his father into the railway world, and trained instead to be a barrister. Horace subsequently became a leading figure in Conservative politics in South Wales, and this – together with his close allegiance to the Taff Vale company – soon won him many friends within Glamorgan’s hierarchy. It was these contacts, and the possibility of securing discounts on tickets for travel to away matches, as much as his prowess on the cricket field, that prompted his selection for three of the county’s fixtures in 1899, including the away matches in the Minor County Championship against Cornwall at Truro and Wiltshire at Trowbridge. Beasley made little impact in these matches and soon after, he concentrated his efforts on his legal career.
He initially worked in South Wales, before moving to Burma after the Great War where he became a High Court Judge. In 1929 he moved to India in 1929 where he served as Honorable Chief Justice of Madras until 1937. He was knighted in 1930, before returning to the U.K. in the late 1930s, and subsequently being awarded a CBE after acting as President of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals Board between 1943 and 1958.
BEASLEY, Sir Horace Owen Compton, CBE
Born – Brentford, 2 July, 1877.
Died – Putsey, 1 January, 1960.
Batting and Fielding Record
| M | I | NO | RUNS | AV | 100 | 50 | CT | ST | |
| MC Championship | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2.00 | – | – | 1 | – |
| MC Friendly | 2 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 7.33 | – | – | 2 | – |
Career-best performances:
Minor County Championship – 4 v Wiltshire at Trowbridge, 1899.
Minor County Friendlies – 10 v Cornwall at Truro, 1899.