LATE MRS. BECK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20851, 18 April 1931, Page 9 (Supplement)

LATE MRS. BECK.

A PROLIFIC WRITER. Tho late Mrs. L. Adams Beck, who wrote many popular historical novels under the pen-name, " E. Barrington," was a Canadian. Under her own name sho wrote several novels, and she was the author of " Rubies," a talo of Burma and Cornwall, the title page of which bears tho words, "By Louis Moresby." Mrs. Beck's maiden name was Moresby, and her father was the Admiral Moresby who, in 1873, charted the waters of New Guinea, and hoisted tho British flag at what is now called Port Moresby. "E. Barrington" was the pen-name used only for historical romances.

Among " E. Barrington's" books were " Tho Thunderer" (Napoleon), " Tho Divine Lady" (Lady Hamilton), and "Glorious Apollo" (Byron), and "Tho Quarrel of tho Queens" (Elizabeth and Mary Stuart). Tho books by L. Adams Beck include " Tho Ninth Vibration," " Tho Perfume of tho Rainbow," and " Tho War of tho Stars." Mrs. Beck has lived and travelled much in Oriental countries, including Tibet. Her father, Admiral John Moresby, wroto " Two Admirals," published in 1909, which described his own and his father's, careers. His father was- Admiral. Sir Fairfax Moresby, who, in 1850, was commander-in-chief in the Pacific, and arranged tho transfer of tho Pitcairn Islanders to Norfolk Island.

John Moresby also wroto " Discoveries and Surveys in British New Guinea," published in 1876. In 1914 the Admiralty paid him the compliment of naming tho destroyer Moresby after him. No other warship had been named after a living man.