Field Artillery, 4th _s._ of Erskine Beveridge, LL.D., of St.
Leonard’s Hill, Dunfermline, and Vallay, North Uist, by his wife, Mary,
dau. of John Owst, of Wilberfoss, co. York; _b._ Dunfermline, 4
Nov. 1886; educ. St. Ninian’s, Moffat; Loretto; and Pembroke College,
Cambridge (B.A. 1908); and when war broke out was studying for the
Scottish Bar in Edinburgh. He was gazetted 2nd Lieut., R.F.A., 10
Oct. 1914; left for the Dardanelles, 7 July, 1915, and died at St.
Andrew’s Hospital, Malta, 13 Sept. 1915, of dysentery contracted while
on active service in Gallipoli; buried at Valletta; _unm._ He was
a keen Rugby footballer, playing for his schools and college. Two of
his brothers are now (1916) on active service, and his brother-in-law,
Lieut. Alexander B. Innes, 1/7th Gordon Highlanders, and two uncles,
Capt. and Adjutant David Inglis, 1/4th Gurkha Rifles, and Lieut.
Charles N. D. Inglis, 2/8th Gurkha Rifles, were killed in action.
[Illustration: =David A. Beveridge.=]
=BEVERIDGE, JOHN=, Private, No. 14555, 13th (Service) Battn. Royal
Scots (Lothian Regt.); served with the Expeditionary Force in France,
etc.; killed in action at Hooge, 14 Sept. 1915.
=BEVERIDGE, ROBERT McAUSLAN=, Private, No. 401, 1st Battn. Black
Watch (42nd Royal Highlanders), _s._ of Alexander Beveridge, of
Perth, Builder and Valuer (died 4 Jan. 1914); _b._ Cherrybank,
Perth, 7 Jan. 1887; educ. Public School there, enlisted 30 Oct. 1905,
stationed Fort George 1905–6, and in India 1906–Dec. 1912, being in
charge of Regimental Police 1909–12; formed one of their Majesties’
Bodyguard on the occasion of the Durbar, 1911, and received the King’s
medal. On the outbreak of war he was called up 6 Aug. and was badly
wounded at the Battle of the Aisne, and died in No. 3 General Hospital,
St. Nazaire, 28 Sept. 1914; buried there; _unm._
[Illustration: =Robert McAuslan Beveridge.=]
=BEVERLEY, ARTHUR=, Private, No. 14024, 2nd Battn. Duke of
Wellington’s West Riding Regt., 2nd _s._ of Bethel Beverley, of
54, Savile Park Street, Halifax, Professor of Music, by his wife,
Sarah Isabel; _b._ Halifax, 4 Dec 1893; educ. Halifax Secondary
School; left his work as an electrical engineer and volunteered after
the outbreak of war in Sept. 1914, and was at first attached to the 3rd
Battn. of the West Riding Regt. After seven months’ training he went
to France with a draft to the 2nd Battn. He was only there three weeks
when he died 5 May, 1915, from the effects of gas poisoning at Hill 60,
and was buried on the Ypres and Poperingue Road; _unm._
=BEVIS, EDWARD ALBERT FRANK=, Boy, 1st Class, J. 26776 (Ports.),
H.M.S. Hawke, lost in action in the North Sea, 15 Oct. 1914.
=BEVIS, WILLIAM=, Private, No. 10259, 1st Battn. Royal West Kent
Regt.; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in
action 16 March, 1915.
=BEYFUS, HAROLD EMANUEL=, Private, No. 225, 5th Battn. (Rifle
Brigade) The London Regt., yr. _s._ of Albert Lewis Beyfus, of 3,
Park Place Villas, Maida Hill, W., Precious Stone Merchant and Broker,
by his wife, Essie, dau. of Benjamin de Frece, of New York, U.S.A.;
_b._ Maida Hill, W., 26 April, 1886; educ. Gower St. University
School, and Kahn’s Institute, Brussels; joined the London Rifle Brigade
after the outbreak of war in Aug. 1914; was wounded in the head, in
action at Hill 60, 1 May, 1915, and died in hospital at Boulogne two
days later; _unm._
[Illustration: =Harold Emanuel Beyfus.=]
=BEZER, REUBEN=, Private, No. 3387, A. Coy., 6th Battn.
Northumberland Fusiliers (T.F.); a native of Jesmond,
Newcastle-on-Tyne; left Blyth for the Front, 20 April, 1915, was in
action on 26 April, and was posted as missing the following day.
=BIBB, GEORGE FREDERICK=, Armourer, 342183, H.M.S. Hogue; lost in
action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BIBBY, JOHN PATRICK=, Lieut. 2nd Battn. The Cameronians (Scottish
Rifles), 2nd _s._ of Col. Alfred Bibby, late 4th Hussars;
_b._ 9 Nov. 1892; gazetted 2nd Lieut. from the Special Reserve to
the 2nd Cameronians, 10 Dec. 1913, and promoted tempy. Lieut., 15 Nov.
1914; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in
action there 10 March, 1915; _unm._
=BICKERTON, FREDERICK RICHARD=, Sergt., No. 1110, A Coy. 1st/3rd
Battn. (Royal Fusiliers) The London Regt. (T.F.), _s._ of Samuel
Richard Bickerton, of 58, Moray Road, Tollington Park, N., Builder’s
Clerk, by his wife, Fanny Cinclar, dau. of John Spiller Standen, late
of 60, Moray Road, Tollington Park, N.; _b._ 22 Sept. 1893; educ.
Montem Street Elementary and Higher Grade Schools (passed Oxford Local
Junior Exam. 1908, with 3rd class honours); was a shipping clerk in
the City of London, and joined the 3rd City of London Regt. in 1911.
On the outbreak of war he was sent to guard the railway line near
Fleet, Hants, and from thence to Malta for four months, reaching France
in Jan. 1915. He went through the Battle of Neuve Chapelle where his
Coy. were badly cut up, was promoted Sergt. in March, 1915, and was
afterwards slightly wounded but recovered and rejoined. He died at
No. 7 Casualty Clearing Station 18 Aug. 1915, from wounds received
in action at Aubers Ridge, and was buried in Merville Cemetery,
France (Grave H. 46); _unm._ His Commanding Officer, Capt. Noel,
wrote: “I can honestly say that he was a fine soldier. I especially
owe him a debt of gratitude, because if it had not been for him,
I should probably not be alive now. I was rather badly wounded at
Neuve Chapelle, and your son bandaged me up under heavy fire; he then
practically carried me and put me in a shell hole, and later in the
day came back to me when my life was in danger from shells, and helped
to carry me back to our lines. I mentioned his name to the Colonel
directly I was able to write, and he would surely have earned some
decoration if he had lived, because both in the trenches and at Neuve
Chapelle he showed great bravery and indifference under fire. He was
popular all round and regretted by everyone, and I am proud to say he
was in my company.”
[Illustration: =Frederick R. Bickerton.=]
=BIDDLECOMBE, EDWARD GEORGE=, Sergt., R.M.A., 8781, H.M.S.
Aboukir; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BIGGE, HON. JOHN NEVILLE=, Capt., King’s Royal Rifle Corps,
only _s._ and _h._ of Arthur John, 1st Lord Stamfordham,
P.C., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., K.C.B., Private Secretary to his Majesty the
King, by his wife, Constance, dau. of the late Rev. William Frederick
Neville, Vicar of Butleigh, Somerset; _b._ London, 14 Oct. 1887;
educ. Evelyn’s, Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; was Page
of Honour to Queen Victoria and to King Edward VII., and on leaving
Sandhurst obtained his commission as 2nd Lieut. 4th Battn. King’s
Royal Rifle Corps, at Colchester, 6 Oct. 1906, afterwards proceeding
with them to India. He became Lieut. 10 March, 1909, was for a short
time acting A.D.C. to the Earl of Minto when Viceroy of India, and
to Viscount Hardinge for the Coronation Durbar; was transferred to
the Egyptian Army, 8 July, 1913, and appointed A.D.C. to Sir Reginald
Wingate, Gov.-Gen. of the Sudan and Sirdar of the Egyptian Army. On the
outbreak of war he was unable, according to the conditions of service,
to leave the Egyptian Army, but in Sept. 1914, he was appointed A.D.C.
to Gen. the Hon. Julian Byng, then nominated to the command of the 3rd
Cavalry Division of the Expeditionary Force. He landed at Ostend on 7
Oct., was promoted Capt. 1 March, and remained on Gen. Byng’s Staff
until the end of April, 1915, when at his own request he returned to
regimental duty and joined the 1st Battn. King’s Royal Rifle Corps,
then attached to the 6th Brigade, 2nd Division. On the occasion of
the night attack carried out by the 1st Army on 15–16 May, he was in
command of the C Company. Soon after the advance began he was seen to
be wounded in the leg, but refused assistance from one of his men, said
he was all right, and told the rifleman to go on. He was never seen
again.
[Illustration: =Hon. John Neville Bigge.=]
=BIGGS, GEORGE EDWARD=, Private, No. 26058, 14th Battn. (Royal
Montreal Regt.), Canadian Expeditionary Force, 5th _s._ of the
late Edward Biggs, of Rainham, Essex, by his wife, Eliza; _b._
Dagenham, co. Essex, 27 Jan. 1885; educ. Rainham; emigrated to Canada
in 1910, and settled in Toronto. He enlisted immediately on the
outbreak of the war in Aug. 1914, came over with the first Canadian
Contingent, and after training during the winter on Salisbury Plain,
left for France, 3 April, 1915. He was eighteen days in the trenches
during the Battle of Hill 60, and was killed in action at Richebourg,
20 May, 1915, while acting as bomb thrower, and was buried near
Festubert. He _m._ at Rainham, 17 Aug. 1907, Daisy Constance
(Anglo Cottages, Purfleet, Essex), 2nd dau. of Frederick Allen;
_s.p._
=BILLING, CHARLES GEORGE=, Capt., Royal Marine L.I., Chatham,
attached to Deal Division, eldest _s._ of the late Rev. George
Billing, M.A., sometime (1871–88) missionary under the S.P.G. at
Ramnad, Madras and Calcutta, afterwards vicar of Sturry and Platt, by
his wife, Caroline Flora (28 Bromley College, Bromley), dau. of the
Rev. Joseph Gabbett, co. Limerick, Ireland; _b._ Ramnad, Madura
District, Madras, 15 May, 1882; educ. King’s School, Canterbury,
Dover College and Greenwich. He received his commission in the Royal
Marines, 1 Jan. 1901, and was promoted Lieut., 1 Jan. 1902, and Capt.,
1 Jan. 1912. Served on the China Station, 1903, West Indies, 1906, the
Mediterranean, 1908, the Pacific, 1912, etc., and received pilot’s
certificate in Flying Corps, Oct. 1913. He was appointed to the H.M.S.
Doris, 1914, and was stationed near Ascension Island till April, 1915,
when he came home. He left Plymouth for the Dardanelles, 10 May, 1915,
and was killed in action, 13 June following; _unm._
[Illustration: =Charles George Billing.=]
=BILLING, SAMUEL ALFRED=, No. 2449, 16th Battn. (Queen’s
Westminster Rifles) The London Regt. (T.F.), _s._ of George
Timothy Billing, of 22, Ribblesvale Road, Hornsey, Inspector, Finsbury
Borough Council; _b._ London, 16 Feb. 1896; educ. Stationers’
School, Crouch End, was an articled clerk to the Borough Accountant of
Hornsey, but on the outbreak of war enlisted, 27 Aug. 1914, and was
killed in action at Houplines, near Armentières, France, 27 Feb. 1915;
_unm._ A comrade wrote: “His grave is here ... a mile from the
firing line, a simple white cross with the simplest inscription, and
the plaque bearing the regimental arms and the grand old Latin phrase,
‘Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori.’”
=BILLINGTON, LESLIE CHARLES=, 2nd Lieut., 4th, attached 2nd,
Battn. Lancashire Fusiliers, only _s._ of Charles Billington, of
Heimath, Longport, co. Stafford, Metallurgist, by his wife, Annie Jane,
dau. of George Richard Cockhead; _b._ Wolstanton, co. Stafford,
25 Dec. 1895; educ. Bishop’s Stortford College, and entered Manchester
University as an engineering student in Oct. 1913. He was in camp with
the University O.T.C. at the outbreak of war, and was gazetted 2nd
Lieut. to the 4th Battn. of the Lancashire Fusiliers, 14 Oct. 1914. On
going to the Front he was attached to the 2nd Battn., and was killed
in action during the taking of German trenches at Pilken, near Ypres,
6–9 July, 1915; _unm._ Writing on Aug. 1, Major Bowes said: “I
have been making enquiries from the N.C.Os. and men of his platoon, and
from what I can gather he was leading a party of men up to the German
trenches during the violent attack which lasted from July 6 to the
9th. His party was told off as bomb throwers. He fell on the parapet
of the trenches and nothing was recovered from his body. One thing I
can say and that is, he showed the greatest courage, and never flinched
when he was told off for the dangerous job. It was a most ghastly time
for us all, and during those three days and four nights we lost ten
officers killed and eight wounded, including the Commanding Officer
and Adjutant, and all the captains except one, and eighty-five men
killed and 234 wounded and missing. The place where this fight took
place is called Pilken, about three miles N. of Ypres. It was brought
about this way. One of the German trenches was in such a position
as to enfilade the front trench occupied by the Rifle Brigade. This
regt. with the Somersets were told off to take this trench, which they
did on the morning of 6 July. My battn. relieved these two regts. on
the 6th (midnight) and occupied the captured German trench. We had
orders to hold the trench at all costs. The Germans counter attacked
on the morning of the 7th with heavy artillery and bomb throwers,
but in spite of heavy odds against us we held that trench for three
whole days, until we were relieved at midnight on the 9th by another
brigade. The regt. covered itself with honour in those three days,
and it was due to such fine young fellows as your boy that we were
able to hold our own”; and a few days later Corpl. Brereton wrote: “We
were holding some trenches captured from the Germans, and our platoon,
which was ably commanded by your son, were in support to the firing
line. We were subjected to a very heavy shell fire, and early on your
son inspired confidence in his men by the way he assisted in digging
several of our men out who had been buried with debris, thereby saving,
I know, two men’s lives from suffocation, for which we all admired
him. It is the most nerve-trying time you can get, to be under heavy
shell fire, especially fresh out from England, but your son seemed to
overcome it straight away, and turned out a brick, as it were. On the
afternoon of the 7th we were ordered to reinforce the front line, and
when we arrived there learned that our bomb throwers had retired from
the advanced saphead temporarily, being short of bombs. The Germans
had occupied it, so your son was ordered by Capt. Blencowe, who was
in command (the Col. and several of our senior officers having got
wounded), to retake the trench. I was the corpl. in charge of the
section he selected to go with him. He led us up fearlessly, he himself
yards in front of any of his men, and I saw him get up to the parapet
and empty his revolver, then jump in the trench, and after the trench
was retaken, he was most unfortunately hit with a shell, dying a brave
soldier’s death, staunch and fearless to the end. His platoon greatly
feel the loss of so gallant an officer, and offer you their most
sincere sympathy in your sad loss.”
[Illustration: =Leslie Charles Billington.=]
=BILNEY, EDWIN ARTHUR=, Private, No. 2975, 4th Battn. Suffolk
Regt. (T.F.), eldest _s._ of A. Bilney, of Brandeston, Suffolk;
was a Gardener; volunteered for foreign service after the outbreak of
war; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; died in the
Clearing Hospital, 17 May, 1915, of wounds received in action, aged 22.
=BILTON, JOSEPH=, Private, No. 6030, 3rd Battn. Coldstream Guards,
_s._ of Septimus Bilton, of 73, Arundel Street, Holderness Road,
Hull, formerly of the N.E.R. Coy., by his wife, Mary, dau. of Samuel
Seague, Naval Pensioner; _b._ Hull, 1 Nov. 1887; educ. Fish Street
Council School there; enlisted in 1903 and served for eleven years,
then became Labour Master at the York Workhouse and held this position
when called up on the outbreak of war; killed in action at Soupir,
16 Sept. 1914; _unm._ His brother, Septimus, enlisted after the
outbreak of war and is now (1916) on active service.
[Illustration: =Joseph Bilton.=]
=BINDLEY, HORACE=, Private, No. 15594, 1st Battn. The Middlessex
Regt., _s._ of William Bindley, of 104, Ber Street, Norwich;
served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.; killed in action,
1 Sept. 1915.
=BINGHAM, CHARLES HENRY=, Private, No. 9057, 2nd Battn. East Kent
Regt. (The Buffs), _s._ of Henry Bingham of 1, Park Road, Beaver,
near Ashford; served with the Expeditionary Force in France, etc.;
killed in action 14 Feb. 1915.
=BINGHAM, CHARLES JEFFREY SLADE=, Private, No. 20745, 10th Battn.
Canadian Expeditionary Force, 3rd _s._ of the late Richard Charles
William Bingham, of Bingham’s Melcombe, co. Dorset, J.P., Lieut.-Col.,
Dorsetshire Regt., by his wife, Georgina (28a, Barons Court Road,
West Kensington), dau. of William Stuckey Wood, of Charlton Musgrove,
Wincanton, late Capt. 7th Dragoon Guards, and grandson of Col. Charles
Bingham, Royal Artillery Dep. Adj.-Gen.; _b._ Bingham’s Melcombe,
co. Dorset, 12 Dec. 1893, and was educ. at Clifton College, from which
he went to Canada in 1910, and at the outbreak of the war joined the
10th Battn. Canadian Expeditionary Force. While in camp at Valcartier
he contracted cerebro-spinal meningitis and was landed at Plymouth
on 15 Oct. 1914, in a very serious condition, and taken to the 4th
Southern Military Hospital, where he died on 6 Jan. 1915; _unm._
Four of his brothers are now (1916) on active service, Richard Charles
Otho with the Ceylon Engineers in Ceylon; John Richard, 2nd Lieut.,
R.F.C., late H.A.C.; Humphrey Richard, Lieut., R.F.A. (awarded the
Military Cross, in Jan. 1915); and William Philip, 2nd Lieut., R.F.C.,
all with the Expeditionary Force in France.
[Illustration: =Charles Jeffrey Slade Bingham.=]
=BINGHAM, FRANK MILLER=, Capt., 5th K.O.R. Lancaster Regt., 2nd
_s._ of the late John Joseph Bingham, M.D., by his wife, Kate
Laura, dau. of John Yardley Robinson; _b._ Alfreton, co. Derby,
17 Sept. 1874; educ. St. Peter’s, York, and obtained medical degree
of M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London. He joined the
Territorials in 1909, being gazetted Lieut. 26 Nov. 1910, and was
promoted Capt. 2 May, 1914. He took part in the fighting round Ypres
in the early part of May, and had three days furlough to visit his
wife and children, and was killed the day after returning to the Front
while on reconnoitring work near Ypres, 22 May, 1915. He was buried
in Sanctuary Wood. Capt. Bingham was a well-known practitioner in
Lancaster, and formerly played cricket for Derbyshire County and Rugby
football for Blackheath. He _m._ at St. Margaret’s, Westminster,
12 Dec. 1900, Ruth Morley (Lindow Cottage, Lancaster), dau. of Alfred
Evans Fletcher, late Chief Inspector of Albrali Works, and had three
children: Thomas Fletcher, _b._ 8 July, 1902; Joan Fletcher,
_b._ 15 July, 1905; and Jill Fletcher, _b._ 22 April, 1911.
[Illustration: =Frank Miller Bingham.=]
=BINGLEY, JOHN WILLIAM=, Stoker, 1st Class (R.F.R., Ch. B. 9100),
S.S. 105260, H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 11 Sept.
1914.
=BINSTEED, GERALD CHARLES=, Major, 2nd Battn. “Pompadours” Essex
Regt., only _s._ of the late Major Charles Henry Frederick
Binsteed, 52nd Oxfordshire L.I. and 1st Madras Lancers, by his wife,
Consuelo (Hanover Court, Hanover Square, W.), dau. of Gerald de
Wilton, Surgeon-Major, Indian Medical Service; _b._ Cairo, 7 Aug.
1885; educ. Wellington College and Sandhurst; gazetted to the Essex
Regt., 20 May, 1905, promoted Lieut., 6 March, 1910, and Capt., 15
Nov. 1914; served with the Mounted Infantry at Longmoor and Malta,
and was Scouting Intelligence Officer at the Curragh. In May, 1914,
he was appointed for Special Employment at the War Office, but after
the outbreak of war, went to the Front with his Regt., was gazetted
Major 18 March, and was killed in action at Le Gheer, 8 April, 1915;
_unm._ Capt. Binsteed greatly distinguished himself by his
gallantry in the field, and was twice mentioned in F.M. Sir John
French’s Despatches [London Gazette, 4 and 10 Dec. 1914], and was one
of the first officers to receive the Military Cross [London Gazette, 1
Jan. 1915]. At Wellington he represented his school at Bisley and was
winner of the mile race, and at Sandhurst took the Sword of Honour and
passed out first. He also won the Subalterns’ half mile at Malta and
the Officers’ mile race in the All Ireland Military Athletic Meeting
at the Curragh. Capt. Binsteed was an able linguist, and passed as
an interpreter in French, Russian and Chinese, and was a member of
the Geographical Society, China Society, and Asiatic Society, and a
contributor to the China Year Book, “The Far Eastern Review,” etc.
[Illustration: =Gerald Charles Binsteed.=]
=BIRCH, ARTHUR=, Leading Stoker, K. 9930, H.M.S. Good Hope; lost
in the action off Coronel, on the coast of Chili, 1 Nov. 1914.
=BIRCH, ARTHUR EDWARD=, Stoker, 1st Class, K. 7353, H.M.S.
Pathfinder; lost when that ship was sunk by a mine, about 20 miles off
the East Coast, 5 Sept. 1914.
=BIRCH, WILLIAM JOSEPH=, Private, R.M.L.I. (R.F.R., B. 1166),
H.M.S. Cressy; lost in action in the North Sea, 22 Sept. 1914.
=BIRCH, WILLIAM ELRIC HAWTHORNE=, 2nd Lieut., Duke of Cornwall’s
L.I., 2nd _s._ of Richard Birch, of London Bank Chambers,
Newcastle, New South Wales; _b._ Hawthorne, Victoria, Australia,
29 March, 1886; educ. Geelong, Australia; gazetted 2nd Lieut. to the
Duke of Cornwall’s L.I., 18 Sept. 1914, and was killed in action at
Hooge, 31 July, 1915. He had previously held a commission in the
Australian Imperial Forces, and his commanding officer wrote: “He is
a very great loss to the battn., as his knowledge of sketching and
surveying were invaluable. He was always cheery and brave, and was
an excellent leader of men.” Lieut. Birch _m._ at Aldershot, 1
May, 1915, Mabel (35, Braidwood Road, Catford, S.E.), 3rd dau. of John
Lewis, of Catford, S.E.; _s.p._
[Illustration: =William Elric H. Birch.=]