George Andrew Beck’s nine years in Salford mark the shortest tenure of office of any of the Bishops of Salford. His appointment – unusual in that he was already an Ordinary in Brentwood – was probably influenced by the importance that the See of Salford enjoyed in Catholic educational circles. Beck was the Catholic Bishops’ representative with central Government on education. Officials there acknowledged that he often knew the law better than they did themselves. He successfully led negotiations to better the position of Catholic schools across the country.

Born in Streatham, London, on 28th May 1904, George Andrew was educated at Clapham College and at the Assumptionist College of St Michael at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. He joined the Augustinians of the Assumption and was ordained priest in 1927. From being Headmaster of the Becket School in Nottingham, in 1948 he became coadjutor bishop of Brentwood, succeeding Bishop Doubleday there in 1951.

Transferred to Salford in 1955 he continued Bishop Marshall’s expansion of parishes and schools. He was involved in preparations for the second Vatican Council, with particular concern for the means of social communication, and attended all sessions of the Council from 1962 to 1965. In 1964 he was appointed Archbishop of Liverpool where he remained until his retirement through ill-health in 1976. He died in retirement on 13th September 1978.