Rob Beckley became High Sheriff of Somerset in March 2024 on retirement from the police. He had a distinguished 38-year policing career, working in operational and investigative roles at all ranks from PC to Chief Constable.
He lives in Pitminster, near Taunton and hails from the West Country, having been born and brought up on the Wiltshire/Somerset borders.
Rob, a graduate in Law from University College Durham, joined the police after having spent almost four years working in education and development in Africa.
His police career took him from inner city London to Avon and Somerset Constabulary, then to the College of Policing, with his most recent police appointment being Advisor to the Home Secretary and leading criminal and disciplinary investigations into the Hillsborough disaster.
Rob is married to Sue, a Consultant Pathologist at Musgrove Park Hospital. They have three sons, two of whom have followed Rob into the police. Rob is a keen cyclist, and has ridden across virtually all of Somerset on his bike.
He actively supports and is a trustee of a number of charities, some local to Somerset as well as international charities such as the Bishop Tutu Foundation and Project Trust.
Rob’s theme, whilst High Sheriff, was to encourage greater participation in volunteering and community organisations. In his career, he led work across all police forces designed to increase volunteering in policing. This passionate interest in volunteering continued beyond policing and fueled his focus in his year as High Sheriff.
Robert Drewett has lived in Somerset for the vast majority of his life, with time away only for education and a period of work in London.
His early years were spent in Long Sutton, where his parents farmed, before the family moved to Yeabridge, near South Petherton.
Having read law at New College, Oxford he trained with the firm of Stephenson Harwood in the City of London and remained with them on qualification as a solicitor.
In 1987 he married his wife Celia and they relocated to Blagdon in North Somerset, whilst Robert joined Osborne Clarke in Bristol. He stayed with the firm until 2014 (being a partner from 1991 until 2014) before moving with his team literally across the road to Womble Bond Dickinson. He retired as a partner in 2021 but still acts as Senior Counsel on a part time basis.
After a brief spell renting a cottage on the Tyntesfield Estate after they left Blagdon they purchased their current home, located outside Bishop Sutton, in 1992 and it was there that they brought up their 3 children, all now working elsewhere in the country as an engineer, a land agent and an agronomist respectively.
Robert has been involved with a variety of charities within the county. His most active involvement has been with the Royal Bath & West of England Society, where he started stewarding in 1978. He joined its Council in 1984 and its board in 1995, and was chairman from 2013 until last year, when he stood down. He remains connected to the Society, having been made a Vice President of it on his retirement, and takes great pleasure that all three of his children also now steward at the annual show.
He is also a trustee of the Langford Trust for Animal Health and Welfare and the Wells Cathedral Preservation Trust and previously was a trustee of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Trust, Sight Research UK and chairman of Folly Farm Limited, the trading company of Avon Wildlife Trust.
On a wider stage he is a trustee of Innovation for Agriculture, the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth and the Grateful Society.
He also served for 13 years as Church Warden of St Margaret’s Church, Hinton Blewett.
Robert used his year in office to support the work of the Police, the Judiciary, the Probation Service and the other emergency services. In addition, he connected with charities and other organisations across the County.
He was particularly successful in championing the needs of older people living in the rural community. As the first High Sheriff since 1978 to live in North East Somerset Robert channelled energy into spotlighting charities and other organisations operating in this particular part of the historic county.
Having been brought up in the north of Scotland, Jennifer Duke has lived on Exmoor for the past 24 years with her husband and three children.
She has an MA in English and worked in Singapore for the British Council, then joined Longman as a Book Editor in Melbourne, Australia. On returning to the UK she became a Commissioning Editor for Heinemann and for several years juggled a busy career with the demands of a growing family.
Since moving to Exmoor, Jennifer has held the position of Church Warden in Luxborough for 23 years and, as such, has witnessed the value of the parish system in supporting the needs of the community. She has also served as a Parish Councillor for many years and has a special interest in planning discussions and decisions, always striving to preserve Exmoor’s unique landscape whilst trying to ensure that planning decisions allow for thriving, vibrant communities with job opportunities and housing especially for young families.
Over the years Jennifer has been an active committee member and fund raiser for many charities and more recently a trustee of Minehead Citizens Advice and a governor of a group of five Exmoor schools.
Thomas qualified as a solicitor in 1977 and has held different roles both as a practising lawyer and in law firm management.
Alongside his professional life Thomas has been actively involved with charities and not for profit organisations, this is usually as a trustee and often as the chair. These charities have followed his interests and include arts-based charities, such as Bath Festivals, Bath Theatre Trust and the Arnolfini in Bristol; and health care organisations, such as Dorothy House Hospice Care, the Royal United Hospital NHS Trust and the mental health charity RICE. He has held local roles such a parish councillor and churchwarden and he spent over ten years on the Council of Management at the University of Bath.
He is currently the chair of the Bath Preservation Trust, a campaigning and heritage charity which also runs four museums. He is also a trustee of other grant making trusts including the Bath Boules Charitable Trust which distributes the proceeds of this annual event held in Queen Square Bath.
Among his spare time interests are art, walking and gardening as well as supporting the local rugby team where he was a director when the club won the European Cup. He is married to Michelle and has two adult sons.
Unlike many other incoming High Sheriffs of 2020, I managed to make my Declaration on Sunday 15th March at Wells Cathedral. Very shortly after that, our world changed completely. All the preparation I had done was of no use, events to which I had been invited were cancelled and an uncertain future lay ahead.
The traditions of the High Sheriff are intertwined with the safety of our well-functioning society and the maintenance of the health and well-being of us all. It is worth remembering the remit of the High Sheriff; to take an active interest in and offer encouragement to, any organisation or individual involved, directly or indirectly, in the administration of justice in the County. It was by coming back to these important principles that I engaged with many varied groups in Somerset. While not wanting to interrupt the important work of those providing relief to those in need, I sought to give encouragement and support where I could.
Whilst I am only a custodian of the role for a short time, I believe passionately in the good that flows from this ancient office.
Equally, as a positive person, my inclination is to do all I can to make the most of my post and contribute wherever possible to ensure Somerset stays strong and emerges ready to face the new challenges post virus.