Paul Beckmann

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Paul Beckmann has posted two annotations/comments since 28 May 2013.

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About Martin Beckman

Paul Beckmann  •  Link

I'm pretty certain he was never Master Gunner of England. He served in Ireland and was present at the Siege of Athlone (in which he directed the siege artillery) and was also present at the Battle of Aughrim (in which he may have directed some of the heavier field artillery). He was responsible for the capture of Colonel Blood in his abortive attempt to steal the Crown Jewels. Blood asked him to assist in the education of his son, Holcroft Blood, as a military engineer. Colonel Holcroft Blood, as he became, directed the Duke of Marlborough's artillery at the Battle of Blenheim.

About Martin Beckman

Paul Beckmann  •  Link

Martin Beckman was not a Captain in the Royalist navy, but arrived in England in 1660, trying to obtain his half-brother's place (Diderick Beckman who fortified Oxford and less successfully Malmesbury and Hillsdon House, Bucks.) Martin Beckman was appointed as Engineer for Tangier and designed the initial layout of outlying fortlets as well as a major scheme for the whole city. He was dismissed in 1662 with a promissary note on two Dutch merchants issued by the Earl of Teviot. Teviot, (possibly with together with Sir Bernard de Gomme) had fraudulently claimed costs for re-fortifying Dunkirk, of which he had been governor. Martin Beckman left vowing revenge and went to Spain, offering to betray Tangier in exchange for a Regiment of Foot and a lot of money. His conscience got the better of him and he went home to London to confess all. The two Dutch merchants, keen to stir up trouble, denounced him and was flung into the Tower. He wrote for help to the King of Sweden and by 1663 was placed in charge of the Swedish artillery at Stade (the port for Bremen). He returned to England after the Great Fire and the plague, keen to fight the Dutch - for obvious reasons!