Death of Mrs F.W. Beken Well-known resident of Cowes The death occurred at the Frank James Hospital, East Cowes on Monday, a few days after her 80th birthday, of Mrs Hilda Rose Beken, wife of Frank William Beken, world renowned marine photographer, of Canterbury, Castle Road, Cowes. A native of Hertford, she came to Cowes about 60 years ago. In her young days she had a keen appreciation of good music and was a talented pianist and singer. She was a member of the Northwood Choral Society and Cowes Choral Society. A keen motorist, she had driven in all parts of Great Britain. Her great interest was in the Townswomen’s Guild movement and she became a founder member of Cowes Afternoon Guild. For seven years she was chairman and president and when illness forced her to relinquish, she was unanimously elected as honorary life member of the club. Mr and Mrs Beken celebrated their golden wedding in May 1960, when some indication of the esteem in which they were held was shown by the many gifts they received and the hundreds of congratulatory letters and telegrams. One of the events of Mrs Beken’s life was to be in attendance on the Prince of Wales (now the Duke of Windsor) at the opening of Princes Esplanade – the famous vantage point on Cowes front from where thousands of people have viewed Cowes Week Regatta. Mrs Beken is survived by a husband and three sons – Mr A.K. Beken, who is in the business at Cowes, Mr F.N. Beken of London and Mr F.R. Beken of New Milton. The funeral service at St Mary’s Church Cowes on Thursday was conducted by Rev. H.E. Strudwick (rector of Northwood) and interment was at Northwood Cemetery. Cowes Afternoon Townswomen’s Guild, Trinity House, the staff of Messers. Beken and of Messers. Edward Watts and Son were represented. The family mourners were Mr F.W. Beken (husband), Mr and Mrs S.N., Mr and Mrs K. and Mr and Mrs F.R. Beken (sons and daughters in law), Anthony and Kenneth Beken (grandsons) and Mrs Rogers. There were 40 floral tributes. Mr Beken thanks his many friends for their kind messages of sympathy and flowers and regrets that he will be unable to reply to each personally. Taken from the Isle of Wight County Press August 11th 1962 .