Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching (21 April 1913 - 23 March 1985), commonly known as Doctor Beeching, was chairman of British Railways and a physicist and engineer. He became infamous in Britain in the early-1960s for his report "The Reshaping of British Railways", popularly known as the Beeching Axe, which led to far-reaching changes in the railway network. Just over 4,000 route miles were cut on cost and efficiency grounds as a result of the report, leaving Britain with 13,721 miles (22,082 km) of railway lines in 1966. A further 2,000 miles (3,200 km) were to be lost by the end of the 1960s Beeching was born in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, the second of four brothers. His father was a reporter with the Kent Messenger, his mother a schoolteacher and his maternal grandfather a dockyard worker. Shortly after his birth, Beeching's family moved to Maidstone where his brothers Kenneth (who was killed in the Second World War and John were born. All four Beeching boys attended the local Church of England Primary school                

 Maidstone All Saints, before winning scholarships to Maidstone Grammar School where Richard was a prefect. Beeching and his elder brother Geoffrey went on to the Imperial College of Science & Technology in London where both read physics and took First Class honours degrees. His younger brothers both attended Downing College, Cambridge.Beeching stayed on at Imperial College where he undertook a research Ph.D under the supervision of Sir George Thomson. He continued in research until 1943, first at the Fuel Research Station in Greenwich in 1936 and then, the following year, with the Mond Nickel Laboratories in London where he was appointed senior physicist carrying out research in the fields of physics, metallurgy and mechanical engineering.In 1938 he married Ella Margaret Tiley whom he had known since his schooldays and to whom he remained married for the rest of his life. They had no children and initially set up home in Solihull. During the Second World War Beeching, on the recommendation of a Dr. Sykes at Firth Brown Steels, was loaned by Mond Nickel to the Ministry of Supply at the age of 29 where he worked in their Armament Design and Research Departments at Fort Halstead. His first post was with the Shell Design Section where he had a rank equivalent to that of army captain. Whilst with Armament Design, Beeching worked under the Department's Superintendent and Chief Engineer, Sir Frank Smith, a former Chief Engineer with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).

    After the war Smith returned to ICI as Technical Director and was replaced as Chief Engineer of Armament Design by Sir Steuart Mitchell who promoted Beeching, then 33 years old, to the post of Deputy Chief Engineer with a rank equivalent to that of Brigadier. Beeching continued his work with armaments, particularly anti-aircraft weaponry and small arms. In 1948 he joined ICI as Personal Technical Assistant to Sir Frank Smith where he remained for around 18 months, working on the production lines for various products such as zip fasteners, paints and leather cloth with a view to improving efficiency and reducing production costs. He was then appointed to the Terylene Council, and subsequently to the board of ICI Fibres Division. In 1953 he went to Canada as vice-president of ICI (Canada) Ltd and given overall responsibility for a terylene plant in Ontario; he returned after two years to become chairman of ICI Metals Division on the recommendation of Sir Frank Smith. In 1957 he was appointed to the ICI board as Technical Director, and for a short time also served as Development Director

   It seems somewhat ironic that Captain Simon Lazarus Magnus born in Chatham,should be instrumental in building the railway to Queenborough and Sheerness whilst Dr Beeching, who was born in Sheerness,was instrumental in cutting 4000 miles of railways. He did however leave the Sittingbourne to Sheerness line alone!