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Back to all news
Members of the St Paul’s Community are invited to share their messages of condolence, following the sad loss of Dr Ed Beesley, Head of History at St Paul’s.
Ed’s wife is extremely grateful for the kind words she has received so far and wanted the school to share this message with the Pauline community:
Normally, I am extremely assiduous in writing thank-you cards for the gifts I receive but, after today, this would be an Herculean task so please excuse the impersonal nature of this message.
Ed was loved and respected wherever he worked and it is an enormous help to Augusta, Theo and me to see this marked so palpably by the hundreds of cards and messages we have already received. We have long since run out of vases for beautiful flowers and the massive box which just arrived with so many envelopes, gifts and expressions of love from SPGS and SPS is quite overwhelming. The Rugby community also holds Ed deep in their hearts and so we are drawing on our collective good memories to keep us strong. Ed will live with us forever, of course, but you have all already played a huge part in supporting us and I know he would love you all the more for it.
With our best wishes, Lizzie, Augusta and Theo.
If you would like to share your message on this page, please add your comment in the below box.
If you wish to include your name with your message, please add it to the message box as well as the field marked ‘name’.
Dear Ms Beesley, sincere sympathy on the passing of your husband. Both you and your children are in our thoughts and prayers at this horrendous time.. May Ed rest in peace and you all find the strength to carry on.
I learned belatedly of Edward’s death.
Edward was a very dear friend whom I regret not having seen again for years now.
He was a charming boy full of humor and open to others.
My thoughts go out to all his family whom I send my love very dearly from Paris.
We were so shocked and sorry to receive the news about Ed. He was an inspiration to Felix as tutor and teacher with his kind and relaxed manner and we are so priveleged to have known him during this time. It is a great loss to the school community and we send every condolence to Lizzie and family for this time and the future.
It is with great sadness that I hear of Ed Beesley’s death. I was, all too briefly, his Housemaster at Repton School, and taught him History. He was both an enthusiastic teenage tennis player, and a very hardworking pupil, with a real human sense of right and wrong , and also often very ‘challenging’ – I recall the frequent ‘expostulations’ ‘Why Sir? It’s not fair!’ In subsequent years I was impressed by the fact that he became such a inspirational and conscientious schoolmaster. His early death deprives all of a talented and good human being. My condolences and prayers for his family. May he rest in peace.
We were so very shocked and saddened to learn of Dr Beesley’s sudden passing before Christmas, and send you, the Beesley family, Lizzie, Augusta and Theo, our deepest condolences. It seems unfathomable and cruel that someone with such generosity of spirit, wisdom and kindness should be taken in such an untimely manner. Dr Beesley was the best of teachers, instilling a love of history in Lysander. More importantly, perhaps, he helped him get back on his feet after a set-back, giving him the confidence not to give up, a lesson that will stay with him forever. At the end of November, Dr Beesley also helped Lysander prepare for university interviews, even though he was now a former pupil. His feedback was spot on, as ever, and may have made all the difference. We, as a family, will remain ever grateful for Dr Beesley’s wise counsel and kind support of our son.