The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/a'Beckett, Hon. William Arthur Callendar
a'Beckett, Hon. William Arthur Callendar, J.P., eldest son of the late Sir William a'Beckett (q.v.), was in the Legislative Council of Victoria from 1868 to 1876, and held office without portfolio in the Administration of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy from June 1871 to June 10th, 1872. He was sworn in as a member of the Executive Council on July 31st, 1871. He represented the first Berry Government in the Legislative Council, being a member of the Ministry without office from Aug. 7th to Oct. 20th, 1875. He was admitted to the Victorian bar on Sept. 15th, 1875. Mr. a'Beckett, who was born at Kensington on July 7th, 1833, and educated at King's College, London, and at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow Commoner, has also been called to the English (Inner Temple) and New South Wales bars. He married, in Sept. 1855, Emma, only child and heiress of John Mills, of Melbourne. He has been a magistrate of the colony of Victoria since 1862, but now resides at Penleigh House, Westbury, Wilts.