PRIVATE 38168 WALTER BEECH, 9TH BATTALION YORK AND LANCASTER REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION, 15TH NOVEMBER 1916, AGED 34.


PRIVATE 38168 WALTER BEECH, 9TH BATTALION YORK AND LANCASTER REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION, 15TH NOVEMBER 1916, AGED 34.


At the beginning of the war Walter Beech had worked as a butler in the grand setting of Denton Hall on the north side of Wharfedale. However, on 27th August 1916 he was conscripted into the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. After initial training he arrived in France on 10th October and was transferred to the 10th battalion York and Lancaster Regiment. Walter was forced to endure the notorious 'Bullring' at Etaples where punishment for even the most minor infringement was severe. He finally arrived in the front line on the 4th November just as the weather turned wet and cold and the Somme Offensive was brought to a close. For poor Walter Beech his war would be very short. On the night of the 14/15th November, he was part of a patrol sent out into 'no-man’s land' which came under heavy and accurate German artillery fire. Sixteen men became casualties including Walter who was first posted missing and then presumed dead.


Walter Beech was born at oak Forest Farm in the hamlet of Walshford on the Great North Road near Wetherby. One of seven children born to Charles and Mary Beech, he went into service and was first a footman and later a butler in several large country houses across Yorkshire before finally settling at Denton Hall.

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