GEORGE HENRY BEEVER

George Henry Beever

George Henry Beever was born at Bank Street Ossett on 2nd February 1891 the third youngest of four children born to 22 year old Inn Keeper Benjamin and, Cumberworth born, Mary Alice Beever (nee Hinchliffe) who married at Holy Trinity Church, Ossett on 21st September 1887. Mary Alice was a 24 years old spinster and like her bridegroom she lived in Ossett but was born in Shepley. By 1891 the couple had three sons all born in Ossett; John, Tom and George Henry aged two months. A daughter, Emma, was born in Ossett in summer 1892.The family were living with Benjamin’s widowed mother, Emma, a Licenced Victualler, at The Bull’s Head Public House on Bank Street.
George Henry was named after his grandfather who was the publican of The Bull’s Head between1873-1878 and again in 1888. He died in spring 1890 and the licence was transferred to Emma on 5th May 1890 and she held the license until 1894.

The Bull’s Head and Bank Street about 1950

Sadly George Henry’s father Benjamin died in summer 1898 and by 1901 his widow had moved to Shepley with her three sons and they were living next door to the Sovereign Public House. With the exception of son, Tom, the family were living in the same dwelling in 1911. Their only daughter Emma had married George Biltcliffe and they had a daughter, Nellie. George Henry, aged 20, was working as a planer in a stone quarry. On 4th January 1913 George Henry, a quarryman of Lane Head Shepley married Ethel Hanwell of Holmfirth at her local Parish Church. Their marriage was blessed with two children; Irene born 4th May 1913 and Douglas born 4th February 1915.
On 4th August 1914 Great Britain declared war on the German Empire and shortly afterwards George Henry enlisted at Huddersfield and joined the 2nd Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment. Following several months of training he embarked for France arriving on 15th September 1915 as one of many replacements for what remained of his 2nd Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. By 24th January 1916 he was part of the newly established 12th Machine Gun Company in the 12th Brigade of the 4th Division. Amidst the frequent skirmishes with the enemy and the coldest of February weather the Company readied itself for an attack on Redan Ridge with the hamlet of Serre on the left and Beaumont Hamel on the right. The most northerly front line position for what was to be the first day of the battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916. The 31st Division, the “Pals” Division, was on the left and the 29th Division was on the right. The objective for the 4th Division was to capture an enemy stronghold known as the Quadrilateral.

The weather on the morning of Saturday 1st July 1916 was fine and on any other day it would be pleasant but the 4th Division’s position, as it contemplated the attack, was far from ideal. The enemy held the high ground and consequently could see the British much more clearly than the British could see them. The British would be attacking uphill towards, not a single ridge, but a series of them. The ground rose gradually for about 2,000 yards to the villages of Serre and Beaumont Hamel. The area was honeycombed with a series of deep chalk pits with an acute salient, known as the Quadrilateral, which jutted out into No Man’s Land, and gave a flanking fire along the whole of this part of the front. The enemy’s trenches were everywhere protected by wire, and the German front line was about 800 yards distant without any vestige of cover and a slight rise in the direction of the German trenches.

The Battle of The Somme. Just another day (Courtesy IWM)

On that day, 1st July 1916, page upon page of instruction about what was supposed to happen were torn up in an instant. The troops knew what they were to do but most didn’t live long enough to do it.
Ten guns for the 12th Brigade were assembled in two locations in readiness for the attack. Six guns were in reserve. Alongside were two trench mortar batteries, one of which included my grandfather, Private Thomas Howe. Unlike George Henry Beever, my grandfather survived this awful day.
The Regimental War Diary records all that is needed to know ”…even before 7.30 am while our artillery were bombarding very intensely an enemy machine gun began to traverse some of the parapets of the Assembly trenches……Nothing could be seen what was happening in the 31st Division on the left and in the 29th Division on the right owing to the smoke and dust” It was 8.15am.

The enemy was practising and 20,000 British men vanished. Sergeant George Henry Beever was one of them.

By 8.41am the Machine Gun Company had advanced in artillery formation in front of an infantry battalion, but it was left with only sufficient men to man one Gun, tripod and ammunition. Elsewhere most of the guns and their operators had been blown to bits in No Man’s Land.
The War Diary tells the story. ”of the 51 (machine gun) carriers who had gone into action with the Company 4 survived.”

Sergeant George Henry Beever was not one of those four survivors. He was killed in action on 1st July 1916 leaving his 25 years old wife, Ethel, a widow, with a daughter aged three years and a son aged 17 months.

He is remembered at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of The Somme.

On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18 November with the onset of winter.

In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line, and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.
All they had left of him is his name on the Thiepval Memorial.

He was posthumously awarded the British and Victory Medals for service in a theatre of war and the 1914-15 Star for serving overseas on or before 31st December 1915.

In 2022 George Henry Beever, once of Ossett, will be remembered at the Ossett War Memorial in the Market Place where his name will be inscribed alongside his brothers and sisters in arms; the Ossett Fallen.

With thanks to The Ossett Fallen Research Team.
Written by Alan Howe for Ossett Heritage.
15th January 2022

Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission