Background
Beck was born in London in 1623, the son of John Beck, a baker of the parish of Saint John, Clerkenwell.
Beck was born in London in 1623, the son of John Beck, a baker of the parish of Saint John, Clerkenwell.
He was educated in a private school in London run by a Mr. Brathwayte, and on 13 June 1638 was admitted as a pensioner of Saint John"s College, Cambridge.
He took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1641, and subsequently that of Master of Arts, being incorporated in the latter at Oxford on 17 October 1643. Beck was headmaster of Ipswich School, Ipswich in Suffolk from 1650 to 1657 - Beck Street in that same town is named after him. In 1657, he resigned and was replaced by former usher Robert Woodside.
He was subsequently instituted to Saint Helen"s, Ipswich or Monksoham (in Suffolk) of which he was also rector.
In 1662 he became curate of Saint Margaret, Ipswich, and in the same year, by lapse, rector of Saint Helen"s, Ipswich, with Saint Clement"s annexed. Beck"s date of death is uncertain - however he was certainly alive in 1697, and William Ray, who was instituted to Monksoham in 1706, was probably his immediate successor.