Roger Beck (1841 – 1923) was born in Croydon but originated from Isleworth where after being articled to a building surveyor, he was running a rapidly dwindling family wharfering business dealing with building materials.
He was advised to invest in other commodities and came to Swansea in 1872 – apparently on a dismally, dark, wet morning where his hat was blown under the wheels of a cart as soon as he left the railway station. His first investment in a tin-plate business in Gowerton near Swansea did little better and the venture failed within months. After a time he was approached by Isaac Butler who was head of the steam handling at the Landore Works who pointed out faults in the production at the works in Gowerton. Together with Butler, Col John Roper Wright and Beck, the Elba Tinplate Works reopened in 1878 using the Siemens expertise.
The company flourished and Beck became a highly respected member of the Swansea society serving as Treasurer to the Church Building Committee in Gowerton, Treasurer of the Swansea Conservative Association, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Board of Management at the Swansea General & Eye Hospital, Treasurer for the appeal for the building of the Swansea YMCA.
During this time he was also a very generous benefactor to the Church (although he had a Quaker background); to the creation of the ’Ragged School’ for poor children in Swansea; to settling the debts of the Swansea Docks after the War by lending them £63,000.00; to the Hospital - on several occasions – culminating in 1920 with the purchase of the unused Parc Wern home of Dulcie Vivian with its eighteen acres for a Nurses Home for £16,500.00. This was then called Parc Beck. He also purchased the Ffynone Mansion of Brooklands as a home for orphaned girls, but this was resold to the Swansea Borough to be used as the Mayoral Mansion House. Money from this sale built a new orphanage in Killay House.
In 1920 Roger Beck was made the first Vice President of the University College of Swansea. Responsible especially for accommodation issues, in 1922 he bought the six houses and surrounding lands known as Gwydir Gardens to be used as student accommodation. As the houses came up for sale, Roger Beck purchased them and gave them to the newly formed University of Wales Swansea to be used for student accommodation. Now known as TY Beck on Sketty Road, Swansea.
In 1923 he was offered the Honorary Degree of Ll.D. Unfortunately, at the age of eighty-two, he died before it was awarded. A year after his death, the Swansea Sea Pilots commissioned a new pilot cutter to be named after him.
Roger Beck travelled extensively to Canada, Jamaica, Egypt and the Crimea to experiment with the relatively new hobby of Photography, was a well-read man – especially of the classics and was a personal friend of Dickens. However, despite his wealth, he apparently lived a comparatively frugal existence in the Rhyddings house in Southward Lane, Langland, with only two lady servants without a telephone or car (he invariably travelled by the Mumbles Train to Swansea) Roger Beck is buried near the steps in Oystermouth Cemetery.
