Son of WILLIAM COLLETT BEECHEY, a Schoolmaster and his wife ELIZABETH (nee EVANS). He was Baptised on 7th October, 1810 at Clanfield, Oxfordshire.
Former Rector of Friesthorpe [22 years] and husband of Amy.
He married AMY REEVE on 12th July, 1876 at Linchlade, Buckinghamshire. They had 14 children - eight sons and 6 daughters.
They lost five sons to the Great War-all of whom are commemorated on Amy's grave, and inside the church on one of the two plaques commemorating those who died in the First World War.
Leonard Reeve Beechey
Born 31 August 1881, Southwark. Died aged 36.Rifleman 593763, 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles).
Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln and a year at Stamford School then worked as a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. Enlisted at St Pancras, resident at Highgate. A quiet, romantic boy, he had worked as a railway clerk but wrote movingly as he sat amid the desolation of war. Recalling sunset walks across Hampstead Heath with his wife Annie, he wrote:
"I think in autumn there are more beautiful sunsets, but I cannot rid myself of the thought that winter lurks behind them."
He was gassed and wounded at Bourlon Wood. His last words written in spidery handwriting from his deathbed at a French hospital were:
"My darling mother, don't feel like doing much yet. Lots of love, Len."
He is buried at St Sever Cemetery near Rouen, along with Private Walter Souls - two boys from families who gave five sons.
Charles Reeve Beechey
Born 27 April 1878, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Died of wounds in East Africa 20 October 1917 aged 39.Machine gun fire caused fatal wounds to his chest. Private 58708, 25th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
Educated at St John's College, Cambridge. Enlisted at Stamford. In 1914 Charles was a Schoolmaster at Stamford School in Lincolnshire. He stayed on as a schoolmaster while his brothers rushed to join up, then after giving in to pressure to join the war, he wrote:
"These last three years seem so awful to us after the 20 we spent in such peace and enjoyment, so let me now hope that we have had our share of the losses although we are taking more than our share of the dangers."
In the end, those dangers overwhelmed him.
Frank Collett Reeve Beechey
(Born 12 October 1886. Died of wounds 14 November 1916, aged 30.His legs were torn off by a Somme shell. Frank had lain in No Man's Land under enemy fire from dawn until dusk before an army doctor risked his life to crawl out and administer morphine.Second Lieutenant, 13th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.Frank was educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and had been a schoolmaster at Hornsea and Horsham before joining the staff of De Aston School, Market Rasen, where he remained for some years. He was an excellent footballer and cricketer, and tremendously popular with everybody. He left De Aston to take up a position at the Choir school, Lincoln, where he was when the war broke out. He was then captain of the Lindum football club, and kept wicket for the Lindum Club, at times for the County Eleven.
Harold Reeve Beechey
Lance Corporal 200, 48th Battalion, Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
Born Friesthorpe Rectory, Lincoln, 22 March 1891 he was a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen and emigrated to Western Australia aged 22. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Harold enlisted in the Australian Infantry on 9th September 1914 in Perth. He went to Egypt and then to Gallipoli, where he fought Turks and dysentery, being invalided twice. He survived the Hell of Pozières (Somme) but was sent to England to recover from his wounds. He wrote home:
"Very lucky, nice round shrapnel through arm and chest, but did not penetrate ribs. Feel I could take it out myself with a knife."
Harold was patched up and sent back to fight again. He wrote bitterly to his mother:
"To deny a fellow the right of a final leave seems to me to be miserable spitefulness on their part."
He came home to recover but was sent back to France in November 1916, being killed by a bomb in Bullecourt on 10th April 1917, aged 26. His death was mercifully speedy.
His mother,Amy wrote: "I am thankful that he did not suffer long. Poor boy, he had been invalided twice and wounded once and we hoped he would come through."
No known grave. Commemorated on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme, France.
Barnard Reeve Beechey
Born 26 April 1877, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Killed in action in the Battle of Loos 25 September 1915, aged 38.Sergeant 13773, 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.Educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and St John's College, Cambridge. He worked as deputy headmaster at Dorchester Grammar. The eldest, Barnard Beechey joined the 9th Service Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, in Lincoln. He was the first of the brothers to die. He charged to his death and his body was never found. Just a few days before he was killed, he wrote:
"I really am all right and don't mind the life, only we all wish the thing was over."
-and Christopher William Reeve Beechey Born 1 June 1883. Enlisted in the AIF (4th Field Ambulance) and returned to Australia 8/5/1916 severely maimed and was discharged on 13/7/1916.He died 26/9/1968. Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln then worked in the offices of Messrs. W Dunlop, Burmese Merchants of Bishopgate. Later he became a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. In 1910 he emigrated with his brother Harold to Western Australia. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Chris served as a stretcher-bearer with the Australian infantry until a Turkish sniper's bullet in his shoulder ended his war in May 1915 - when shot, he fell down a ravine, damaging his spine, and could only walk for short distances with two crutches after that. Having gone to Australia before the war with Harold, he returned severely disabled but lived to 85. The dangers her boys faced were already clear to Amy. In a letter dated 7th May 1915, Chris writes (from Gallipoli):
"Mother mine I am down here in a gully near the sea resting after having had about three days and two nights continuous work under shrapnel fire and fire from snipers. Harold was safe and sound up to last night. Most of the men in our field ambulance know him by sight and bring me word. His company were given possession of a hill very dangerous to hold and with snipers to their left rear, losing 23 out of 50 in his platoon before they were relieved on the fifth day, but no one shifted unless killed or carried down wounded. It seems nothing but divine providence that neither of us are hit, men being hit all around us and we stretcher-bearers not being able to take cover like the infantry. One doctor and two of us were sewing up an officer's bowels when they hit the man holding the needles. After we'd been here a week and seen what it means it seems inconceivable to me that men can stay out of it."
After his repatriation to Australia, Chris worked tirelessly for ex-servicemen and was presented to the Prince of Wales at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, in July 1920.Chris Beechey's last wish was to be commemorated like his five brothers who fell on the battlefields of WWI. His grave at Karrakatta Cemetary, carries the inscription:
"1368 Private CWR Beechey, 4th Field Ambulance, 26th September 1968 at Age 85, Beloved husband of Bertha, father of Kathleen and Daphne, Requiescat in Pace."
The other Beechey Children
• Maude Beechey (Born 1879. Died 1885 of measles, aged 5.)
• Frances Mary Deverell Beechey (Born February 1885. Died 1977.)
• Eric Reeve Beechey (Born 28 April 1889. Died 1954 aged 65.)Attended De Aston School and Catherine Lady Barclay's School. After leaving school,,he began a Dental Apprenticeship in Lincoln. He had the good fortune to be an army dentist. He was posted to Malta and Salonika and was spared the carnage of the trenches
• Katherine Agnes Beechey (Born 1893. Died 1971.)
• Margaret Eleanor Beechey (Born 1894. Died 1963.)
• Winifred Lucy Beechey (Born 1895. Died 1976.)
• Edith Emily Mucklow [nee Beechey] (Born 1897. Died 1992.)
She was his 13th child, a poet and she is listed on his grave and may be interred there]
* Samuel St Vincent Reeve Beechey (Born 13 August 1899. Died 1977, aged 78.) Sam had been a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen. At just 19,the baby of the family,he was sent out to face the guns on the Western Front. He survived the last three weeks of the war as a junior gunnery officer and came home safely and trained as a chemist.
1911 census [for Amy Beechey]
Age in 1911: 55
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1856
Relation to Head: Wife
Birth Place: Beds, Leighton Buzzard
Civil parish: Snelland, Friesthorpe and Faldingworth
County: Lincolnshire
Address: The Rectory Friesthorpe Nr Lincoln
Registration district: Lincoln
Household Members:
Prince William Thomas 74
Amy 55
Eric Reeve 21
Harold Reeve 20
Katherine Agnes 18
Samuel Liverwort R
Former Rector of Friesthorpe [22 years] and husband of Amy.
He married AMY REEVE on 12th July, 1876 at Linchlade, Buckinghamshire. They had 14 children - eight sons and 6 daughters.
They lost five sons to the Great War-all of whom are commemorated on Amy's grave, and inside the church on one of the two plaques commemorating those who died in the First World War.
Leonard Reeve Beechey
Born 31 August 1881, Southwark. Died aged 36.Rifleman 593763, 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles).
Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln and a year at Stamford School then worked as a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. Enlisted at St Pancras, resident at Highgate. A quiet, romantic boy, he had worked as a railway clerk but wrote movingly as he sat amid the desolation of war. Recalling sunset walks across Hampstead Heath with his wife Annie, he wrote:
"I think in autumn there are more beautiful sunsets, but I cannot rid myself of the thought that winter lurks behind them."
He was gassed and wounded at Bourlon Wood. His last words written in spidery handwriting from his deathbed at a French hospital were:
"My darling mother, don't feel like doing much yet. Lots of love, Len."
He is buried at St Sever Cemetery near Rouen, along with Private Walter Souls - two boys from families who gave five sons.
Charles Reeve Beechey
Born 27 April 1878, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Died of wounds in East Africa 20 October 1917 aged 39.Machine gun fire caused fatal wounds to his chest. Private 58708, 25th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
Educated at St John's College, Cambridge. Enlisted at Stamford. In 1914 Charles was a Schoolmaster at Stamford School in Lincolnshire. He stayed on as a schoolmaster while his brothers rushed to join up, then after giving in to pressure to join the war, he wrote:
"These last three years seem so awful to us after the 20 we spent in such peace and enjoyment, so let me now hope that we have had our share of the losses although we are taking more than our share of the dangers."
In the end, those dangers overwhelmed him.
Frank Collett Reeve Beechey
(Born 12 October 1886. Died of wounds 14 November 1916, aged 30.His legs were torn off by a Somme shell. Frank had lain in No Man's Land under enemy fire from dawn until dusk before an army doctor risked his life to crawl out and administer morphine.Second Lieutenant, 13th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.Frank was educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and had been a schoolmaster at Hornsea and Horsham before joining the staff of De Aston School, Market Rasen, where he remained for some years. He was an excellent footballer and cricketer, and tremendously popular with everybody. He left De Aston to take up a position at the Choir school, Lincoln, where he was when the war broke out. He was then captain of the Lindum football club, and kept wicket for the Lindum Club, at times for the County Eleven.
Harold Reeve Beechey
Lance Corporal 200, 48th Battalion, Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
Born Friesthorpe Rectory, Lincoln, 22 March 1891 he was a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen and emigrated to Western Australia aged 22. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Harold enlisted in the Australian Infantry on 9th September 1914 in Perth. He went to Egypt and then to Gallipoli, where he fought Turks and dysentery, being invalided twice. He survived the Hell of Pozières (Somme) but was sent to England to recover from his wounds. He wrote home:
"Very lucky, nice round shrapnel through arm and chest, but did not penetrate ribs. Feel I could take it out myself with a knife."
Harold was patched up and sent back to fight again. He wrote bitterly to his mother:
"To deny a fellow the right of a final leave seems to me to be miserable spitefulness on their part."
He came home to recover but was sent back to France in November 1916, being killed by a bomb in Bullecourt on 10th April 1917, aged 26. His death was mercifully speedy.
His mother,Amy wrote: "I am thankful that he did not suffer long. Poor boy, he had been invalided twice and wounded once and we hoped he would come through."
No known grave. Commemorated on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme, France.
Barnard Reeve Beechey
Born 26 April 1877, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Killed in action in the Battle of Loos 25 September 1915, aged 38.Sergeant 13773, 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.Educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and St John's College, Cambridge. He worked as deputy headmaster at Dorchester Grammar. The eldest, Barnard Beechey joined the 9th Service Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, in Lincoln. He was the first of the brothers to die. He charged to his death and his body was never found. Just a few days before he was killed, he wrote:
"I really am all right and don't mind the life, only we all wish the thing was over."
-and Christopher William Reeve Beechey Born 1 June 1883. Enlisted in the AIF (4th Field Ambulance) and returned to Australia 8/5/1916 severely maimed and was discharged on 13/7/1916.He died 26/9/1968. Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln then worked in the offices of Messrs. W Dunlop, Burmese Merchants of Bishopgate. Later he became a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. In 1910 he emigrated with his brother Harold to Western Australia. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Chris served as a stretcher-bearer with the Australian infantry until a Turkish sniper's bullet in his shoulder ended his war in May 1915 - when shot, he fell down a ravine, damaging his spine, and could only walk for short distances with two crutches after that. Having gone to Australia before the war with Harold, he returned severely disabled but lived to 85. The dangers her boys faced were already clear to Amy. In a letter dated 7th May 1915, Chris writes (from Gallipoli):
"Mother mine I am down here in a gully near the sea resting after having had about three days and two nights continuous work under shrapnel fire and fire from snipers. Harold was safe and sound up to last night. Most of the men in our field ambulance know him by sight and bring me word. His company were given possession of a hill very dangerous to hold and with snipers to their left rear, losing 23 out of 50 in his platoon before they were relieved on the fifth day, but no one shifted unless killed or carried down wounded. It seems nothing but divine providence that neither of us are hit, men being hit all around us and we stretcher-bearers not being able to take cover like the infantry. One doctor and two of us were sewing up an officer's bowels when they hit the man holding the needles. After we'd been here a week and seen what it means it seems inconceivable to me that men can stay out of it."
After his repatriation to Australia, Chris worked tirelessly for ex-servicemen and was presented to the Prince of Wales at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, in July 1920.Chris Beechey's last wish was to be commemorated like his five brothers who fell on the battlefields of WWI. His grave at Karrakatta Cemetary, carries the inscription:
"1368 Private CWR Beechey, 4th Field Ambulance, 26th September 1968 at Age 85, Beloved husband of Bertha, father of Kathleen and Daphne, Requiescat in Pace."
The other Beechey Children
• Maude Beechey (Born 1879. Died 1885 of measles, aged 5.)
• Frances Mary Deverell Beechey (Born February 1885. Died 1977.)
• Eric Reeve Beechey (Born 28 April 1889. Died 1954 aged 65.)Attended De Aston School and Catherine Lady Barclay's School. After leaving school,,he began a Dental Apprenticeship in Lincoln. He had the good fortune to be an army dentist. He was posted to Malta and Salonika and was spared the carnage of the trenches
• Katherine Agnes Beechey (Born 1893. Died 1971.)
• Margaret Eleanor Beechey (Born 1894. Died 1963.)
• Winifred Lucy Beechey (Born 1895. Died 1976.)
• Edith Emily Mucklow [nee Beechey] (Born 1897. Died 1992.)
She was his 13th child, a poet and she is listed on his grave and may be interred there]
* Samuel St Vincent Reeve Beechey (Born 13 August 1899. Died 1977, aged 78.) Sam had been a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen. At just 19,the baby of the family,he was sent out to face the guns on the Western Front. He survived the last three weeks of the war as a junior gunnery officer and came home safely and trained as a chemist.
1911 census [for Amy Beechey]
Age in 1911: 55
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1856
Relation to Head: Wife
Birth Place: Beds, Leighton Buzzard
Civil parish: Snelland, Friesthorpe and Faldingworth
County: Lincolnshire
Address: The Rectory Friesthorpe Nr Lincoln
Registration district: Lincoln
Household Members:
Prince William Thomas 74
Amy 55
Eric Reeve 21
Harold Reeve 20
Katherine Agnes 18
Samuel Liverwort R
Son of WILLIAM COLLETT BEECHEY, a Schoolmaster and his wife ELIZABETH (nee EVANS). He was Baptised on 7th October, 1810 at Clanfield, Oxfordshire.
Former Rector of Friesthorpe [22 years] and husband of Amy.
He married AMY REEVE on 12th July, 1876 at Linchlade, Buckinghamshire. They had 14 children - eight sons and 6 daughters.
They lost five sons to the Great War-all of whom are commemorated on Amy's grave, and inside the church on one of the two plaques commemorating those who died in the First World War.
Leonard Reeve Beechey
Born 31 August 1881, Southwark. Died aged 36.Rifleman 593763, 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles).
Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln and a year at Stamford School then worked as a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. Enlisted at St Pancras, resident at Highgate. A quiet, romantic boy, he had worked as a railway clerk but wrote movingly as he sat amid the desolation of war. Recalling sunset walks across Hampstead Heath with his wife Annie, he wrote:
"I think in autumn there are more beautiful sunsets, but I cannot rid myself of the thought that winter lurks behind them."
He was gassed and wounded at Bourlon Wood. His last words written in spidery handwriting from his deathbed at a French hospital were:
"My darling mother, don't feel like doing much yet. Lots of love, Len."
He is buried at St Sever Cemetery near Rouen, along with Private Walter Souls - two boys from families who gave five sons.
Charles Reeve Beechey
Born 27 April 1878, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Died of wounds in East Africa 20 October 1917 aged 39.Machine gun fire caused fatal wounds to his chest. Private 58708, 25th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
Educated at St John's College, Cambridge. Enlisted at Stamford. In 1914 Charles was a Schoolmaster at Stamford School in Lincolnshire. He stayed on as a schoolmaster while his brothers rushed to join up, then after giving in to pressure to join the war, he wrote:
"These last three years seem so awful to us after the 20 we spent in such peace and enjoyment, so let me now hope that we have had our share of the losses although we are taking more than our share of the dangers."
In the end, those dangers overwhelmed him.
Frank Collett Reeve Beechey
(Born 12 October 1886. Died of wounds 14 November 1916, aged 30.His legs were torn off by a Somme shell. Frank had lain in No Man's Land under enemy fire from dawn until dusk before an army doctor risked his life to crawl out and administer morphine.Second Lieutenant, 13th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.Frank was educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and had been a schoolmaster at Hornsea and Horsham before joining the staff of De Aston School, Market Rasen, where he remained for some years. He was an excellent footballer and cricketer, and tremendously popular with everybody. He left De Aston to take up a position at the Choir school, Lincoln, where he was when the war broke out. He was then captain of the Lindum football club, and kept wicket for the Lindum Club, at times for the County Eleven.
Harold Reeve Beechey
Lance Corporal 200, 48th Battalion, Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
Born Friesthorpe Rectory, Lincoln, 22 March 1891 he was a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen and emigrated to Western Australia aged 22. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Harold enlisted in the Australian Infantry on 9th September 1914 in Perth. He went to Egypt and then to Gallipoli, where he fought Turks and dysentery, being invalided twice. He survived the Hell of Pozières (Somme) but was sent to England to recover from his wounds. He wrote home:
"Very lucky, nice round shrapnel through arm and chest, but did not penetrate ribs. Feel I could take it out myself with a knife."
Harold was patched up and sent back to fight again. He wrote bitterly to his mother:
"To deny a fellow the right of a final leave seems to me to be miserable spitefulness on their part."
He came home to recover but was sent back to France in November 1916, being killed by a bomb in Bullecourt on 10th April 1917, aged 26. His death was mercifully speedy.
His mother,Amy wrote: "I am thankful that he did not suffer long. Poor boy, he had been invalided twice and wounded once and we hoped he would come through."
No known grave. Commemorated on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme, France.
Barnard Reeve Beechey
Born 26 April 1877, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Killed in action in the Battle of Loos 25 September 1915, aged 38.Sergeant 13773, 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.Educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and St John's College, Cambridge. He worked as deputy headmaster at Dorchester Grammar. The eldest, Barnard Beechey joined the 9th Service Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, in Lincoln. He was the first of the brothers to die. He charged to his death and his body was never found. Just a few days before he was killed, he wrote:
"I really am all right and don't mind the life, only we all wish the thing was over."
-and Christopher William Reeve Beechey Born 1 June 1883. Enlisted in the AIF (4th Field Ambulance) and returned to Australia 8/5/1916 severely maimed and was discharged on 13/7/1916.He died 26/9/1968. Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln then worked in the offices of Messrs. W Dunlop, Burmese Merchants of Bishopgate. Later he became a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. In 1910 he emigrated with his brother Harold to Western Australia. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Chris served as a stretcher-bearer with the Australian infantry until a Turkish sniper's bullet in his shoulder ended his war in May 1915 - when shot, he fell down a ravine, damaging his spine, and could only walk for short distances with two crutches after that. Having gone to Australia before the war with Harold, he returned severely disabled but lived to 85. The dangers her boys faced were already clear to Amy. In a letter dated 7th May 1915, Chris writes (from Gallipoli):
"Mother mine I am down here in a gully near the sea resting after having had about three days and two nights continuous work under shrapnel fire and fire from snipers. Harold was safe and sound up to last night. Most of the men in our field ambulance know him by sight and bring me word. His company were given possession of a hill very dangerous to hold and with snipers to their left rear, losing 23 out of 50 in his platoon before they were relieved on the fifth day, but no one shifted unless killed or carried down wounded. It seems nothing but divine providence that neither of us are hit, men being hit all around us and we stretcher-bearers not being able to take cover like the infantry. One doctor and two of us were sewing up an officer's bowels when they hit the man holding the needles. After we'd been here a week and seen what it means it seems inconceivable to me that men can stay out of it."
After his repatriation to Australia, Chris worked tirelessly for ex-servicemen and was presented to the Prince of Wales at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, in July 1920.Chris Beechey's last wish was to be commemorated like his five brothers who fell on the battlefields of WWI. His grave at Karrakatta Cemetary, carries the inscription:
"1368 Private CWR Beechey, 4th Field Ambulance, 26th September 1968 at Age 85, Beloved husband of Bertha, father of Kathleen and Daphne, Requiescat in Pace."
The other Beechey Children
• Maude Beechey (Born 1879. Died 1885 of measles, aged 5.)
• Frances Mary Deverell Beechey (Born February 1885. Died 1977.)
• Eric Reeve Beechey (Born 28 April 1889. Died 1954 aged 65.)Attended De Aston School and Catherine Lady Barclay's School. After leaving school,,he began a Dental Apprenticeship in Lincoln. He had the good fortune to be an army dentist. He was posted to Malta and Salonika and was spared the carnage of the trenches
• Katherine Agnes Beechey (Born 1893. Died 1971.)
• Margaret Eleanor Beechey (Born 1894. Died 1963.)
• Winifred Lucy Beechey (Born 1895. Died 1976.)
• Edith Emily Mucklow [nee Beechey] (Born 1897. Died 1992.)
She was his 13th child, a poet and she is listed on his grave and may be interred there]
* Samuel St Vincent Reeve Beechey (Born 13 August 1899. Died 1977, aged 78.) Sam had been a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen. At just 19,the baby of the family,he was sent out to face the guns on the Western Front. He survived the last three weeks of the war as a junior gunnery officer and came home safely and trained as a chemist.
1911 census [for Amy Beechey]
Age in 1911: 55
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1856
Relation to Head: Wife
Birth Place: Beds, Leighton Buzzard
Civil parish: Snelland, Friesthorpe and Faldingworth
County: Lincolnshire
Address: The Rectory Friesthorpe Nr Lincoln
Registration district: Lincoln
Household Members:
Prince William Thomas 74
Amy 55
Eric Reeve 21
Harold Reeve 20
Katherine Agnes 18
Samuel Liverwort R
Former Rector of Friesthorpe [22 years] and husband of Amy.
He married AMY REEVE on 12th July, 1876 at Linchlade, Buckinghamshire. They had 14 children - eight sons and 6 daughters.
They lost five sons to the Great War-all of whom are commemorated on Amy's grave, and inside the church on one of the two plaques commemorating those who died in the First World War.
Leonard Reeve Beechey
Born 31 August 1881, Southwark. Died aged 36.Rifleman 593763, 18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles).
Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln and a year at Stamford School then worked as a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. Enlisted at St Pancras, resident at Highgate. A quiet, romantic boy, he had worked as a railway clerk but wrote movingly as he sat amid the desolation of war. Recalling sunset walks across Hampstead Heath with his wife Annie, he wrote:
"I think in autumn there are more beautiful sunsets, but I cannot rid myself of the thought that winter lurks behind them."
He was gassed and wounded at Bourlon Wood. His last words written in spidery handwriting from his deathbed at a French hospital were:
"My darling mother, don't feel like doing much yet. Lots of love, Len."
He is buried at St Sever Cemetery near Rouen, along with Private Walter Souls - two boys from families who gave five sons.
Charles Reeve Beechey
Born 27 April 1878, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Died of wounds in East Africa 20 October 1917 aged 39.Machine gun fire caused fatal wounds to his chest. Private 58708, 25th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
Educated at St John's College, Cambridge. Enlisted at Stamford. In 1914 Charles was a Schoolmaster at Stamford School in Lincolnshire. He stayed on as a schoolmaster while his brothers rushed to join up, then after giving in to pressure to join the war, he wrote:
"These last three years seem so awful to us after the 20 we spent in such peace and enjoyment, so let me now hope that we have had our share of the losses although we are taking more than our share of the dangers."
In the end, those dangers overwhelmed him.
Frank Collett Reeve Beechey
(Born 12 October 1886. Died of wounds 14 November 1916, aged 30.His legs were torn off by a Somme shell. Frank had lain in No Man's Land under enemy fire from dawn until dusk before an army doctor risked his life to crawl out and administer morphine.Second Lieutenant, 13th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.Frank was educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and had been a schoolmaster at Hornsea and Horsham before joining the staff of De Aston School, Market Rasen, where he remained for some years. He was an excellent footballer and cricketer, and tremendously popular with everybody. He left De Aston to take up a position at the Choir school, Lincoln, where he was when the war broke out. He was then captain of the Lindum football club, and kept wicket for the Lindum Club, at times for the County Eleven.
Harold Reeve Beechey
Lance Corporal 200, 48th Battalion, Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
Born Friesthorpe Rectory, Lincoln, 22 March 1891 he was a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen and emigrated to Western Australia aged 22. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Harold enlisted in the Australian Infantry on 9th September 1914 in Perth. He went to Egypt and then to Gallipoli, where he fought Turks and dysentery, being invalided twice. He survived the Hell of Pozières (Somme) but was sent to England to recover from his wounds. He wrote home:
"Very lucky, nice round shrapnel through arm and chest, but did not penetrate ribs. Feel I could take it out myself with a knife."
Harold was patched up and sent back to fight again. He wrote bitterly to his mother:
"To deny a fellow the right of a final leave seems to me to be miserable spitefulness on their part."
He came home to recover but was sent back to France in November 1916, being killed by a bomb in Bullecourt on 10th April 1917, aged 26. His death was mercifully speedy.
His mother,Amy wrote: "I am thankful that he did not suffer long. Poor boy, he had been invalided twice and wounded once and we hoped he would come through."
No known grave. Commemorated on Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Somme, France.
Barnard Reeve Beechey
Born 26 April 1877, Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire. Killed in action in the Battle of Loos 25 September 1915, aged 38.Sergeant 13773, 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.Educated at St John's Foundation School for the Sons of Poor Clergy, Leatherhead and St John's College, Cambridge. He worked as deputy headmaster at Dorchester Grammar. The eldest, Barnard Beechey joined the 9th Service Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, in Lincoln. He was the first of the brothers to die. He charged to his death and his body was never found. Just a few days before he was killed, he wrote:
"I really am all right and don't mind the life, only we all wish the thing was over."
-and Christopher William Reeve Beechey Born 1 June 1883. Enlisted in the AIF (4th Field Ambulance) and returned to Australia 8/5/1916 severely maimed and was discharged on 13/7/1916.He died 26/9/1968. Attended Christ's Hospital School, Lincoln then worked in the offices of Messrs. W Dunlop, Burmese Merchants of Bishopgate. Later he became a clerk for the Railway Clearing House. In 1910 he emigrated with his brother Harold to Western Australia. Harold and Chris had been farming in the WA Wheatbelt when war broke out. Chris served as a stretcher-bearer with the Australian infantry until a Turkish sniper's bullet in his shoulder ended his war in May 1915 - when shot, he fell down a ravine, damaging his spine, and could only walk for short distances with two crutches after that. Having gone to Australia before the war with Harold, he returned severely disabled but lived to 85. The dangers her boys faced were already clear to Amy. In a letter dated 7th May 1915, Chris writes (from Gallipoli):
"Mother mine I am down here in a gully near the sea resting after having had about three days and two nights continuous work under shrapnel fire and fire from snipers. Harold was safe and sound up to last night. Most of the men in our field ambulance know him by sight and bring me word. His company were given possession of a hill very dangerous to hold and with snipers to their left rear, losing 23 out of 50 in his platoon before they were relieved on the fifth day, but no one shifted unless killed or carried down wounded. It seems nothing but divine providence that neither of us are hit, men being hit all around us and we stretcher-bearers not being able to take cover like the infantry. One doctor and two of us were sewing up an officer's bowels when they hit the man holding the needles. After we'd been here a week and seen what it means it seems inconceivable to me that men can stay out of it."
After his repatriation to Australia, Chris worked tirelessly for ex-servicemen and was presented to the Prince of Wales at His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, in July 1920.Chris Beechey's last wish was to be commemorated like his five brothers who fell on the battlefields of WWI. His grave at Karrakatta Cemetary, carries the inscription:
"1368 Private CWR Beechey, 4th Field Ambulance, 26th September 1968 at Age 85, Beloved husband of Bertha, father of Kathleen and Daphne, Requiescat in Pace."
The other Beechey Children
• Maude Beechey (Born 1879. Died 1885 of measles, aged 5.)
• Frances Mary Deverell Beechey (Born February 1885. Died 1977.)
• Eric Reeve Beechey (Born 28 April 1889. Died 1954 aged 65.)Attended De Aston School and Catherine Lady Barclay's School. After leaving school,,he began a Dental Apprenticeship in Lincoln. He had the good fortune to be an army dentist. He was posted to Malta and Salonika and was spared the carnage of the trenches
• Katherine Agnes Beechey (Born 1893. Died 1971.)
• Margaret Eleanor Beechey (Born 1894. Died 1963.)
• Winifred Lucy Beechey (Born 1895. Died 1976.)
• Edith Emily Mucklow [nee Beechey] (Born 1897. Died 1992.)
She was his 13th child, a poet and she is listed on his grave and may be interred there]
* Samuel St Vincent Reeve Beechey (Born 13 August 1899. Died 1977, aged 78.) Sam had been a pupil at De Aston School, Market Rasen. At just 19,the baby of the family,he was sent out to face the guns on the Western Front. He survived the last three weeks of the war as a junior gunnery officer and came home safely and trained as a chemist.
1911 census [for Amy Beechey]
Age in 1911: 55
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1856
Relation to Head: Wife
Birth Place: Beds, Leighton Buzzard
Civil parish: Snelland, Friesthorpe and Faldingworth
County: Lincolnshire
Address: The Rectory Friesthorpe Nr Lincoln
Registration district: Lincoln
Household Members:
Prince William Thomas 74
Amy 55
Eric Reeve 21
Harold Reeve 20
Katherine Agnes 18
Samuel Liverwort R
Family Members
Spouse
Siblings
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