Person DS/UK/158 Beeson; Mark (1954-2022); playwright; poet; primatologist Beeson Mark 1954-2022 playwright; poet; primatologist Male Born in Powell River, Canada, on the 31st May 1954; educated at Highfield School, Winchester College, and Magdalen College, University of Oxford (c. 1974-1977). Lived in Ford Farmhouse, Manaton, on Dartmoor for most of his childhood. Lived in Exeter for a short time, and settled in Manaton until his death on the 26th February 2022.

Born in Powell River, Canada in 1954 to Christopher Beeson, a farmer, and Jane (nee Bowater), an artist and writer, Mark Beeson spent most of his childhood on Dartmoor at Ford Farmhouse, Manaton. Mark boarded at Highfield School and Winchester College, before attending Magdalen College, Oxford, initially to study Classics before changing to Human Sciences, graduating in 1977. In 1979, his archaeological survey of Widecombe-in-the-Moor was published in collaboration with Michael Masterman for the Devon Sites and Monuments Register. A year later, in 1980, Mark’s poem ‘The Walk’ won a prize in the Arvon Foundation’s first international poetry competition. A prolific writer, poet and playwright from a young age, Mark’s first community play, ‘The Badgers’, was performed in 1980 and followed two archaeologists as they navigated a badgers’ sett. The play explored the government’s policy of badger culling and its impact on Dartmoor and the environment. It would be the first of many community plays written by Mark and performed by MED Theatre during his 30-year tenure as Artistic Director. In 1981, after working for years to receive external funding, Mark travelled to the Zomba Plateau in Malawi to complete a self-funded study of the blue monkeys native to the area, under the supervision of primatologist Vernon Reynolds. In 1986, Mark’s research on the blue monkeys was awarded an MPhil in primate ecology from the University of Exeter and he was later elected to the Linnean Society. Inspired by the family structures of blue monkeys, Mark founded Manaton and East Dartmoor Theatre (later named MED Theatre), a rural community theatre company, in 1989. Several of Mark’s plays were adapted or written for radio and produced by BBC Radio 4, including Hound of the Cabells, The Primates (1984), The Therapists (1986), and The Swallows (1989). Most of Mark’s plays were written in verse, and many took inspiration from the mythology and landscape of Dartmoor. In 2002, Mark was presented the Dartmoor Society’s Award for his “for his creative enrichment of Dartmoor theatre”. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Mark founded and edited the poetry magazine ‘Otter’, and he also founded The Dart magazine with his wife, Alison Hastie, and local friends. Publication of The Dart began production in 1981 and continued until 2001, publishing articles on subjects such as nuclear disarmament, environmental concerns, local traditions and trades, and other community issues. Mark died on the 26th February 2022. In 1980, Mark married Alison Hastie, with whom he had two children: Luke and Teffan. International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes Readroom 17/02/2010 AXIELLNET\EXEHpiff 17/06/2025 247b2210-2ea2-4bc1-aa49-18043e46a41e