Samuel Beddows is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing, many of whom fell in the battles of the Somme in 1916. On 6th September 1916, his battalion were in trenches between High Wood and Delville Wood, link here, the woods are easily identified.
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=14&lat=50.0356&lon=2.7940&layers=101723165&right=BingHyb During the period in the line the trenches were under constant shell fire, he was among a number of men reported missing during that period.
His service record has survived and shows that he had joined the army in December 1914 having already served 10 years part time in the South Lancashire Militia from which he had been discharged following conviction of a civil offence of striking a police officer. He served first in UK where his disciplinary record was not of the best, his conduct sheet showing a string of stoppages of pay, confinement to barracks and detention, including Field Punishment No 2 (placed in handcuffs or fetters) for a number of short absences, threatening behaviour, drunkenness and insolence. He went to France on 24 December 1915 where his only recorded lapse was a charge in May 1916 for being drunk in his billet for which he was awarded 28 days Field Punishment No 1 which involved being placed in restraints and attached to a fixed object for up to 3 days out of four.
He left the pay the army owed him, £9 13s and his war gratuity to his mother Ellen. His service entitled him to the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
MaxD
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Topic: Beddows brothers (Read 528 times)