Olive Beamish
Olive Beamish, the only daughter of Ferdinand Beamish (1838-1920) and Frances Anne Strickland (1847-1929), was born in Cork, Ireland, on 17th June, 1890. Her grandfather, Charles Beamish, was a partner in the firm of Beamish & Crawford, a brewery and brewing company. (1)
Olive had four brothers, Ferdinand (1877-1957), Walter (1879-1962), Francis (1882-1964) and Gerald (1884-1973). The family moved to England and settled in Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol. Olive became aware of the situation of women when her brothers became involved in politics. (2) Olive Beamish told Edith How-Martyn: "I felt the position keenly, that I would never be equal to them in the political world, and I also realised the inferior position of women, everywhere." (3)
Olive Beamish attended Clifton High School. In 1911 Olive Beamish was living at Dennisworth & Crump Farm at Pucklechurch with her mother and father and four brothers. (4) At the age of 16 she joined the Women Social & Political Union. Olive moved to Battersea and set-fire to a pillar box but was not arrested. In 1912 she began studying mathematics and economics at Girton College, Cambridge. (5)
At a meeting in France in October, 1912, Christabel Pankhurst told Frederick Pethick-Lawrence and Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence about the proposed arson campaign. When they objected, Christabel arranged for them to be expelled from the organisation. Emmeline later recalled in her autobiography, My Part in a Changing World (1938): "My husband and I were not prepared to accept this decision as final. We felt that Christabel, who had lived for so many years with us in closest intimacy, could not be party to it. But when we met again to go further into the question… Christabel made it quite clear that she had no further use for us." (6)
WSPU Arson Campaign
As Fern Riddell has pointed out: "From 1912 to 1914, Christabel Pankhurst orchestrated a nationwide bombing and arson campaign the likes of which Britain had never seen before and hasn't experienced since. Hundreds of attacks by either bombs or fire, carried out by women using codenames and aliases, destroyed timber yards, cotton mills, railway stations, MPs' homes, mansions, racecourses, sporting pavilions, churches, glasshouses, even Edinburgh's Royal Observatory. Chemical attacks on postmen, postboxes, golfing greens and even the prime minister - whenever a suffragette could get close enough - left victims with terrible burns and sorely irritated eyes and throats, and destroyed precious correspondence." (7)
According to Sylvia Pankhurst: "When the policy was fully underway, certain officials of the Union were given, as their main work, the task of advising incendiaries, and arranging for the supply of such inflammable material, house-breaking tools and other matters as they might require. Women, most of them very young, toiled through the night across unfamiliar country, carrying heavy cases of petrol and paraffin. Sometimes they failed, sometimes succeeded in setting fire to an untenanted building - all the better if it were the residence of a notability - or a church, or other place of historic interest." (8)
Young Hot Bloods
The WSPU used a secret group called Young Hot Bloods to carry out these acts. No married women were eligible for membership and they had to pledge to "danger duty". (9) The existence of the group remained a closely guarded secret until May 1913, when it was uncovered as a result of a conspiracy trial of eight members of the suffragette leadership, including Flora Drummond, Annie Kenney and Rachel Barrett. (10)
It has been argued that this group included Olive Beamish, Helen Craggs, Olive Hockin, Kitty Marion, Lilian Lenton, Miriam Pratt, Norah Smyth, Clara Giveen, Eileen Casey, Hilda Burkitt, Mary Leigh, Gladys Evans, Olive Wharry, Vera Wentworth, Jessie Kenney, Elsie Howey, Elsie Duval, Mary Phillips and Florence Tunks. (11)
Olive Beamish, who used the false name, Phyllis Brady, was paired up with Elsie Duval who also lived in Battersea. On the night of 19 March, they broke into Trevethan, the empty house of Lady Amy White in Egham, Surrey. Her late husband, Field Marshall Sir George White, who became a national hero when he won the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan. They had used a skeleton key to get in and sprinkled petrol in all twenty rooms, and opened windows to accelerate the fire. The fire burned for seven hours and caused £2000 of damage. In the garden's rookery messages were left: "Stop torturing our comrades in prison", "By kind permission of Mr Hobhouse" and "Votes for Women". (12)
Two women were seen leaving the scene on bicycles. They had been seen arriving at Staines railway station with bicycles fitted with baskets. Just before midnight PC William Pickett was overtaken "at a fairly fast rate" by the women on Staines Bridge. He caught up with the women and spoke to one of them because she had no light on her bicycle. Pickett later identified her as Olive Beamish. (13) It was assumed that the other woman was her friend, Elsie Duval. (14)
Olive Beamish and Elsie Duval were also believed to be responsible for burning Sanderstead Station. On 3rd April 1913 Elsie and Olive were approached by a police officer whilst walking in Croydon at 1.45am. They were both carrying leather travelling cases and claimed they were returning from holiday. They were followed by the policeman and decided to drop their cases and run but were caught and arrested for being found with inflammable material with the intention of committing a felony. Both women gave false names: Elsie (Millicent Deane) and Olive (Phyllis Brady). (15)
West Sussex Gazette reported that when the women appeared in court "Brady looked very ill, and languidly sank into the seat in the dock. It appeared that for the seven days she had been hunger-striking, and had eight times been forcibly fed." It was pointed out that their cases "were crammed with combustibles, including tins of paraffin, matches, candles, fire-lighters, cotton wool, etc... Brady gave as her reason for reticence (giving her real name) that she had come from the provinces, and that, to disclose her real name would be to prevent her obtaining employment in the future... Each prisoner was sent to six weeks' imprisonment in the second division." (16)
On 9th May, 1913, Olive Beamish gave an account in The Suffragette of being force-fed: "On Tuesday evening, Drs. Forward and Pearson came and examined me again, and, after having tried hard to persuade me to take some food, fed me by force. I had then been without food five days, having eaten nothing since. I was arrested the Thursday night before. They first tried to feed me with the cup, but I resisted so violently they could not. They then used the nasal tube, which they used the rest of the time. It was awful the first time, I thought I was being choked, and during the first week it seemed as if the tube was going up and down all night. I always resisted as much as I could, it taking seven or eight wardresses and two doctors. In the last week I developed a much-swollen tonsil, to which I am liable. When Dr Pearson discovered this he begged me to take treatment for my throat: the agony each time was frightful. Once they had great difficulty in getting it down at all, as it came out into my mouth over and over again, and another time they sent it a long way down my windpipe till I thought I had been throttled." (17)
Elsie's boyfriend Hugh Franklin had also been arrested and found guilty of setting fire to a railway carriage at Harrow and was serving a six month sentence for arson. Duval, Beamish and Franklin all went on hunger-strike. Elsie suffered 17 days of force-feeding. (18) They all became seriously ill and on 28th April became the first people to be released under the Cat and Mouse Act. (19) On 16th May it was reported by The Daily Herald that they "had failed to return to prison on the date named, and the police are now searching for them." (20)
The newspapers were highly critical of the legislation: "The futility of what has earned the name of the 'Cat and Mouse Act' is already demonstrated. Four Suffragist prisoners who were released after hunger striking have not returned to prison on the expiration of their period of grace.... The Special Branch of Scotland Yard has circulated the following description of Franklin: 'Wanted for failing to return to Wormwood Scrubs Prison on May 12th as required by the conditions of an order under the Prisoners' Temporarily Discharge for Ill-Health Act. Hugh Arthur Franklin, aged twenty-six years, height 5ft 8ins, sallow complexion, hazel eyes, dark hair, slight dark moustache, of Jewish appearance, wearing pince-nez." (21)
The Women Social & Political Union (WSPU) issued a statement that said: "For the moment while the cat is about the mice are away and it will be some little time before they allow themselves to be caught. The fact is, that we shall make the Act as ridiculous as anything the Government has done to frustrate our movement, and we have many things in store of which they little dream." (22)
After being released under the Cat and Mouse Act, Elsie Duval escaped with her boyfriend, Hugh Franklin, to Belgium and stayed in Brussels. She received a letter from Jessie Kenney that said: "Miss Pankhurst thinks it would be better for you to stay where you are for the time being and until you get stronger." Elsie got a job in Germany as a governess for 10 months. She then spent three months in Brussels learning French and doing office work, followed by two months in Switzerland." (23)
Olive Beamish was finally arrested in January 1914 after "having evaded the police for 10 months". She was now charged with setting fire to Trevethan House on 20th March, 1913. (24) She immediately went on hunger-strike and was fed by force. When she was released on 24th March she went to recover at the suffragette nursing home run by Dr. Flora Murray. An urine test revealed that she had been given bromide, commonly used in lunatic asylums to sedate patients. (25)
First World War
The British government declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914. Two days later, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, the leader of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies declared that the organization was suspending all political activity until the conflict was over. Fawcett supported the war effort, but she refused to become involved in persuading young men to join the armed forces. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) took a different view to the war. It was a spent force with very few active members. According to Martin Pugh, the WSPU were aware "that their campaign had been no more successful in winning the vote than that of the non-militants whom they so freely derided". (26)
The WSPU carried out secret negotiations with the government and on the 10th August the government announced it was releasing all suffragettes from prison. This included Olive Beamish. In return, the WSPU agreed to end their militant activities and help the war effort. Christabel Pankhurst, arrived back in England after living in exile in Paris. She told the press: "I feel that my duty lies in England now, and I have come back. The British citizenship for which we suffragettes have been fighting is now in jeopardy." (27)
After receiving a £2,000 grant from the government, the WSPU organised a demonstration in London. Members carried banners with slogans such as "We Demand the Right to Serve", "For Men Must Fight and Women Must Work" and "Let None Be Kaiser's Cat's Paws". At the meeting, attended by 30,000 people, Emmeline Pankhurst called on trade unions to let women work in those industries traditionally dominated by men. She told the audience: "What would be the good of a vote without a country to vote in!". (28)
Olive Beamish was unhappy with the WSPU approach to the First World War and joined the East London Federation of Suffragettes (ELF), an organisation established by Sylvia Pankhurst, Keir Hardie, Norah Smyth, Julia Scurr, Mary Phillips, Millie Lansbury, Eveline Haverfield, Lilian Dove-Wilcox, Maud Joachim, Nellie Cressall and George Lansbury. The ELF combined socialism with a demand for women's suffrage it worked closely with the Independent Labour Party. Pankhurst also began production of a weekly paper for working-class women called The Women's Dreadnought. (29)
As June Hannam has pointed out: "The ELF was successful in gaining support from working women and also from dock workers. The ELF organized suffrage demonstrations and its members carried out acts of militancy. Between February 1913 and August 1914 Sylvia was arrested eight times. After the passing of the Prisoners' Temporary Discharge for Ill Health Act of 1913 (known as the Cat and Mouse Act) she was frequently released for short periods to recuperate from hunger striking and was carried on a stretcher by supporters in the East End so that she could attend meetings and processions. When the police came to re-arrest her this usually led to fights with members of the community which encouraged Sylvia to organize a people's army to defend suffragettes and dock workers. She also drew on East End traditions by calling for rent strikes to support the demand for the vote." (30)
Later Life
After the Olive Beamish ran her own business, a typewriting bureau (1919-1930). She advertised her business in The Daily Herald: "Typewriting. Duplicating. Translations. Prompt, accurate work. Olive Beamish, 93 Bishopegate, E.C.2." (31) Beamish also served on the executive of the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries. (32)
Beamish became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (1926-1929). She was also active in the Women's Freedom League (WFL) and played an important role in the campaign for votes for all women. It was reported that Beamish was a speaker at a meeting that discussed equal voting rights for women and made plans "to attend the great mass demonstration for votes for women from 21 years of age and on the same terms of men" on 16th July, 1927. (33)
In another speech in January 1928, "Beamish explained how the complete political enfranchisement of women will help women clerks. For years the Office Regulation Bill, with provisions for sanitary accommodation, had been before Parliament, but had failed to make progress. Miss Beamish drew interesting comparisons between factory conditions and conditions in offices, and said that only when all office workers had the power to the vote, and used it would these really necessary reforms be carried through." (34)
After the 1929 General Election Beamish joined the Labour Party and became Secretary of Chelmsford branch in 1931. (35) Beamish was a strong supporter of the Popular Front government during the Spanish Civil War. In January 1937, she was one of eight British Trade Union officials who visited Spain on a fact-finding mission. (36) On her return she gave speeches on behalf of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. (37)
On 16th March 1937, Olive Beamish joined Clement Attlee, Ellen Wilkinson, and Denis Nowell Pritt as the main speakers at a meeting at Hammersmith Town Hall to inaugurate the campaign in support of the Hammersmith Ambulance for Spain Appeal. (38)
In 1939 Olive Beamish was living at Little Homelands, Grange Road, Billericay, Essex. During the Second World War she was a "First Aid Assistant" with Air Raid Precautions. (39)
Olive Beamish died on 14th April, 1978, at her home at Primrose Hill, Hintlesham, Suffolk, near Ipswich. (40) According to the Probate Calendar (Index of Wills), she had effects valued at £8,681. (41)
Primary Sources
(1) The Sunderland Daily Echo (12th April 1913)
At Croydon Police Court today, Phyllis Brady, 23, and Millicent Deane, 23, were each sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment in the second division on a charge of being suspected persons, found loitering, and in possession of a quality of inflammable materials supposed for the purpose of committing felony at Links Road, Mitcham.
The police stated that the women were arrested at two o'clock in the morning, and in parcels they carried were necessary materials to cause a very effective fire. It was stated that Deane's correct name was Elsie Duval, of Wandsworth.
(2) West Sussex Gazette (17th April 1913)
The two young women who chose to be known as Phyllis Brady and Millicent Dean, came again before the Croydon Magistrates on Saturday on charges of being found at Mitcham in the procession of inflammables. They had refused their proper names and addresses, for which reason they had not had bail.
"Brady" looked very ill, and languidly sank into the seat in the dock. It appeared that for the seven days she had been hunger-striking, and had eight times been forcibly fed.
The evidence given last week was repeated. The women were out at two in the morning carrying portmanteaux. To the constable who stopped them in Links Road, they said they had just returned from their Easter holiday at Exeter. Being followed, they dropped the "holdalls" and ran, and "Brady" was caught. The portmanteaux, of the weekend type, were crammed with combustibles, including tins of paraffin, matches, candles, fire-lighters, cotton wool, etc.
"Brady" gave as her reason for reticence that she had come from the provinces, and that, to disclose her real name would be to prevent her obtaining employment in the future…
The story of how "Dean" was caught was told for the first time. After evading the constable sent out on a bicycle saw her talking to the carman in Church Street, Croydon, and arrested her on suspicion. She now described herself as Elsie Duval, of 37, Park Road, Wandsworth.
Each prisoner was sent to six weeks' imprisonment in the second division. The Court was crowded with women sympathisers, but there were no "scenes".
(3) Olive Beamish, The Suffragette (9 May 1913)
On my arrival at Holloway, all the wardresses and the matron were very kind, and seemed to try to give me a welcome! I started the hunger strike at once, however, which turned the friendliness into sorrowful approach or scornful contempt. Though I had been promised books on the day of my arrival none were brought to me.
On Sunday, finding I was not allowed to go to chapel and to exercise, I was told to ask the Governor the next day. Not being satisfied with this, I said that if I was not allowed out in the afternoon I would protest still further. This resulted in my absolutely wrecking my cell. I smashed every pane of glass, knocked off the electric light bracket, and knocked holes in all the vessels. Much to my surprise, this was taken quite as a matter of course – I was only removed to another cell.
On the Monday, Dr Foreward came and examined me, and the next day I was moved to the convicted hospital. There I was put in a cell with thick panes and hardly any air or light. On Tuesday evening, Drs. Forward and Pearson came and examined me again, and, after having tried hard to persuade me to take some food, fed me by force. I had then been without food five days, having eaten nothing since. I was arrested the Thursday night before.
They first tried to feed me with the cap, but I resisted so violently they could not. They then used the nasal tube, which they used the rest of the time. It was awful the first time, I thought I was being choked, and during the first week it seemed as if the tube was going up and down all night. I always resisted as much as I could, it taking seven or eight wardresses and two doctors. In the last week I developed a much-swollen tonsil, to which I am liable. When Dr Pearson discovered this he begged me to take treatment for my throat: the agony each time was frightful. Once they had great difficulty in getting it down at all, as it came out into my mouth over and over again, and another time they sent it a long way down my windpipe till I thought I had been throttled…
On Saturday, Dr Forward came and told me that I was to be released on Monday. He said I should not be forcibly fed anymore whether I took food or not, so I took a little then. I was not released till Monday evening. I was asked if I would consent to have my finger prints taken. I declined, and they then proceeded to do so by force. They managed to get a sort of smudge for each finger.
(4) The Daily Herald (16th May 1913)
Five of the prisoners released temporarily under the "Cat and Mouse Act" have failed to return to prison on the date named, and the police are now searching for them. They are Hugh Arthur Franklin, Annie Bell, Phyllis Brady, Elsie Duval (alias Millicent Dean) and Ella Stevenson (alias Ethel Slade).
(5) The Western Chronicle (16th May 1913)
The futility of what has earned the name of the "Cat and Mouse Act" is already demonstrated. Four Suffragist prisoners who were released after hunger striking have not returned to prison on the expiration of their period of grace. The names of the missing prisoners.
The Special Branch of Scotland Yard has circulated the following description of Franklin: "Wanted for failing to return to Wormwood Scrubs Prison on May 12 th as required by the conditions of an order under the Prisoners' Temporarily Discharge for Ill-Health Act. Hugh Arthur Franklin, aged twenty-six years, height 5ft 8ins, sallow complexion, hazel eyes, dark hair, slight dark moustache, of Jewish appearance, wearing pince-nez.
(6) The People (18th January 1914)
Yesterday, after having evaded the police for 10 months, Phyllis Brady, a Suffragist, was at Chertsey charged with setting fire to the residence of Lady White, widow of the late Sir George White at Englefield Green, Egham, during the night of March 19, 1913.
The house contained 20 rooms, and was practically burned down. It was unoccupied at the time. PC Alexander stated that he passed the house at 11.30 on March 19, and apparently nothing was then amiss. An hour later two women passed him, cycling very fast, from the direction of the house, and almost immediately heard of the fire. Two porters at Vauxhall Station spoke to seeing two women carrying portmanteaus and possessing bicycles, leaving for Staines by train on March 19. A porter named White and Brady closely resembled one of the women. William Knibbs, a cabman of Egham, said he saw women with bicycles and baskets going towards Lady White's house at 11.10 pm on March 19. He could not identify prisoner.
(7) The Daily Herald (2nd February 1920)
Typewriting. Duplicating. Translations. Prompt, accurate work. Olive Beamish, 93 Bishopegate, E.C.2.
(8) The Holloway Press (16th July 1927)
Last Thursday evening a big crowd gathered at the Women's Freedom League meeting at Highbury Corner. The speakers were Miss Pearson and Miss Olive Beamish, and the chairman, Miss F. A. Underwood. The subject discussed was equal voting rights for women and men, and a good number of questions were asked at the close of the meeting, and promises secured from those present to attend the great mass demonstration for votes for women from 21 years of age and on the same terms of men, to be held in Trafalgar Square, Saturday afternoon, July 16th, at 5 o'clock.
(9) The Vote (13th January 1928)
The Women's Freedom League held its usual open-air meeting at Highbury Corner, on the evening of January 5 th , the speaker being Miss Olive Beamish and the chairman Mrs Flint. Miss Beamish explained how the complete political enfranchisement of women will help women clerks. For years the Office Regulation Bill, with provisions for sanitary accommodation, had been before Parliament, but had failed to make progress. Miss Beamish drew interesting comparisons between factory conditions and conditions in offices, and said that only when all office workers had the power to the vote, and used it would these really necessary reforms be carried through.
(10) The Scotsman (19th January 1937)
Eight British Trade Union officials, including one woman, who left England last week for a visit of inspection to Madrid, today flew by daily Air France service from Toulouse to Alicante.
The journey took four hours from Alicante they will go on to the Spanish capital.
The party consists of Mr J. Scott (Amalgamated Engineering Union), Mr A. F. Papworth (Union of Transport Workers), Mr A Davis (Natsopa), Mr H. J. Clayden (Union of Distributive Workers), Mr B. A. Sell (Electrical Trade Union), Mr Michael Finn (Builders), Mr J. Jacobs (member of the Executive Committee of the London Trades Council) and Miss Olive Beamish (vice-president of the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries).
(11) The Daily News (9th March 1937)
Mr C. P. Attlee, leader of the Opposition, will address a meeting at Hammersmith Town Hall on March 16 to inaugurate the campaign in support of the Hammersmith Ambulance for Spain Appeal.
An official of the Spanish Aid Committee of the Hammersmith Borough Labour Party and Trades Council, under whose auspices the campaign is being launched, told the News Chronicle that two Hammersmith trade unionists, a plumber and his mate, have been wounded on the Madrid front.
The other speakers will include Mr D. N. Pritt, K.C. MP, for North Hammersmith, and honorary treasurer to the trades union delegation to Spain) and Miss Ellen Wilkinson; M.P.
(12) David Simkin, Family History Research (17th April, 2023)
Agnes Olive Beamish was born on 17th June 1890 in Cork, County Cork, Ireland, the youngest child and only daughter of Ferdinand Beamish (1838-1920) and Frances Anne Strickland (1847-1929). Her father, Ferdinand Beamish, who was born on 7th July 1838 in Boulogne, France, was the son of Charles Beamish (an Irish farmer and partner in the firm of Beamish & Crawford, a brewery and brewing company based in Cork, Ireland. As a young man, Ferdinand Beamish studied agriculture at Queen's College, Cork. Ferdinand Beamish might have farmed in County Cork but he is usually referred to as a member of the landed gentry.
On 25th February 1876, at St John the Evangelist Church, Kensington, 37-year-old Ferdinand Beamish married 29-year-old Frances Anne Strickland, the daughter of Walter Strickland (1793-1875), a landowner who also derived his income from dividends. On the marriage certificate, Ferdinand Beamish, his late father, Charles Beamish, and his wife's recently deceased father, Walter Strickland, are all described as "Gentlemen" under the heading 'Rank or Profession'.
The union of Ferdinand Beamish and Frances Anne Strickland produced 5 children:
1) Ferdinand Uniacke BEAMISH (1877-1957). Born, Cork, County Cork, Ireland. Studied mechanical engineering but became a "Dairy Farmer". In 1924, at the age of 46, Ferdinand U. Beamish married Madeleine West (1897–1984). There were no children and the marriage ended in divorce (before 1939). He is recorded as a "Dairy Farmer" in 1939. He retired and emigrated to New Zealand where he died in 1957.
2) Walter Strickland BEAMISH (1879-1962) - who pursued an army career. Walter was educated at Clifton College, Clifton, Bristol. He attended the Royal Military College in Woolwich, Kent. He fought in the First World War, as a Lieutenant-Colonel with the Royal Artillery and the Indian Army. He was mentioned in despatches twice. Walter S. Beamish was married twice. First wife: Marion Godey Shaw, daughter of Edward Shaw, married on 9th October 1911. Second wife: Alice Bessie Grace, daughter of Vice-Admiral Henry Edgar Grace, married on 15th January 1930. He lived at Glenarm, Foxrock, County Dublin, Ireland. He died on 14th February 1962 at the age of 82.
3) Francis Bernard BEAMISH (1882-1964). Born Queenstown, Co, Cork.Studied agriculture and became a farmer. In the 1911 Census, recorded as a 28 year-old "Farmer". In 1923, Francis married Muriel Sharpley. Their daughter Patricia Beamish was born in 1928. In 1939 recorded as a "Market Gardener (own account)" in Sodbury, Gloucestershire.
4) Gerald Cholmley BEAMISH (1884-1973). Born Queenstown, Co, Cork. Educated at Clifton College, Clifton, Bristol. Attended Oxford University. Gerald Beamish graduated from Keble College, Oxford University, Oxford in 1913 with a Master of Arts (M.A.). Served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Acting Pilot Officer in 1940 and 1941. He fought in the Second World War, as a Flying Officer for the Royal Air Force. Administrative and Special Duties Branch in the R.A.F. Housemaster at Fettes College, Edinburgh. Living in Edinburgh, Scotland 1949-1965. Unmarried.
5) Agnes Olive BEAMISH (born 17th June 1890, Cork, County Cork, Ireland - died 14th April 1978, Suffolk). Educated at a private school in Clifton, Bristol. Attended Clifton High School, Clifton, Bristol. Educated at Girton College, University of Cambridge. Attended Girton College between 1909 and 1912. Studied Mathematics and Economics. [ Received an M.A. in 1929]. In 1925, Miss Agnes Olive Beamish was recorded in a London Post Office Directory as the proprietor of a "Typewriting Office'' at Ethelburga House, 91-93 Bishopsgate, London.
When Ferdinand Beamish (father of Agnes Olive Beamish) died on 27th December 1920 at Dennisworth, Pucklechurch, near Bristol, Gloucestershire, he was described as a "Gentleman" and had effects valued at £14,507.
When the 1939 General Register was compiled, Agnes O. Beamish was recorded as a "Shorthand Typist" residing at Little Homelands, Grange Road, Billericay, Essex. It was noted that she was a "First Aid Assistant" with the A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions service).
At the time of Agnes Olive Beamish's death on 14th April 1978, her residence was given as Primrose Hill, Hintlesham, Suffolk, near Ipswich, but her death was registered in the Suffolk district of Gipping in the Stowmarket area. According to the Probate Calendar (Index of Wills), she had effects valued at £8,681.