Old Hulmeians War Memorial 1914

HENRY BEALES

4 September 1892 - 9 May 1917

At School 1900 -1903

2nd Lieut 1st attd 14th York & Lancaster Regt

Henry was born in Manchester and in 1901 was living at 28 Yarburgh Street, Alexandra Park,with father Henry, a Button Manufacturer and Button Trimming Agent, mother Fanny, elder sister Hilda and one servant. In 1903 he left School to go to Manchester Grammar School. By 1911 Henry senior had died and 18 year old Henry junior was working as a salesman in the Button manufacturing business. On the outbreak of war he was working with the firm of A Coker and Co. Ltd., Shipbrokers, Forwarding and Chartering Agents, of Liverpool and Manchester.

The Hulmeian Magazine reported that he made several attempts to enlist only to be rejected. Eventually, in March 1916, he enlisted in the Manchester Regiment from where he was transferred to a Training Reserve Battalion. Following training he received a commission in the York and Lancaster Regiment on 24th January 1917 and, as a 2nd Lieutenant, proceeded to France in March joining the 14th York & Lancaster Regiment, part of 94th Brigade 31st Division, on 27 March 1917.

At this time the Battalion was in Reserve at Merville, some 15 kilometres north of Bethune, but in April moved up to the Arras Region to relieve the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, which had been involved in the recent fighting at Vimy Ridge. The Division was in the Gavrelle Sector and on 3rd May was ordered to advance , 92nd and 93rd Brigades attacking with 94th Brigade in support.

By 5th May the 14th Battalion was positioned in the Front Line on the right subsection of the 94th Brigade Front. This was an area of heavy fighting particularly around a strong point known as the Gavrelle Windmill, which was vital to both sides.

There was constant machine gun and artillery fire and the area was described by one there as being like a charnel-house with

bodies and bits of bodies everywhere, both British and German.

The Battalion was relieved on 9th May by the 12th Battalion, by which time almost 40 men had been killed in action or died of wounds, most of their bodies being never recovered or identified.

Unfortunately the relief on the 9th came too late for Henry, who was killed in action on that day.

Map by courtesy of the Worcestereshire Regiment website

Like so many of the others in the Battalion killed during that short period in the front line, his body was not recovered and he is remembered on the Arras Memorial to the Missing.

Henry had been less than two months in France and this was probably his first taste of action.

The York & Lancaster Regiment is commemorated in Bay 8.

THE HULMEIAN - July 1917

The School and the War

Deaths

Second Lieutenant HENRY BEALES, York and Lancaster Regiment, was killed in action in May. Second Lieutenant J H Mumford, R.F.A., M.C., has kindly sent us the following notice of his old friend: "He was at the School on the classical side from 1900 to 1903. he was very keen on cricket and football, and though he never played in the first elevens, appeared on the under 14 teams. He left the School to go to the Manchester Grammar School. He had a sunny disposition, which refused to be dismayed or depressed, and which earned for him the affection of many. He was a good fellow in the broad sense of the word -"a man who would always play the straight game whatever it might cost him." Such might very easily have been his motto, and, indeed, his epitaph, for so he lived and so he died. Thoroughly genuine and sincere, he was equal to any trust. He made several attempts to enlist, only to be rejected, and in spite of the fact that the sacrifice he was prepared to make was great. Eventually he received his commission in the York and Lancaster Regiment in February 1917, after training at a cadet school. He went out in March and was killed in action in May. Certainly the "path of duty" and "the way to glory" for him were one."

Old Hulmeians War Memorial 1914 - 1919