6th Reserve Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
Frederick Lionel Beacham was born in the fourth quarter of 1887 in Cheltenham. He was the second child and eldest son of Charles and Isabella Beacham. His father was a huntsman with the Cotswold Hounds and they lived at Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham.
Lionel enlisted on 4 November 1915 for the duration of the War. He gave his occupation as ‘hunt servant’.
He was posted to a Royal Field Artillery (RFA) depot at Kilmarnock and in May 1916 he was based at Catterick Camp and first diagnosed with pernicious anaemia. The condition caused him to spend about several weeks in hospital in October 1916. He had risen to the rank of Sergeant by 5 February 1916, a rank which he held when he was posted to France on 2 September 1917.
During the Battle of Third Ypres in the autumn of 1917 he appears to have suffered slightly from the effects of gas and on or about 20 November 1917 he received treatment at No 17 Casualty Clearing Station, Remy Sidings, adjacent to what is now Lijssenthoek Military CWGC Cemetery. The exposure to gas and his underlying medical condition was probably responsible for his
repatriation aboard the Hospital Ship Princess Elizabeth on 3 December 1917.
A further period of time was spent in hospital, until discharge on 13 March 1918. He remained in the UK until he was finally discharged from the Army, following a medical board at 4th Scottish General Hospital on 30 September 1918. He had various medical problems, related to his pernicious anaemia and his condition was described as ‘very low’. He was discharged as permanently unfit and as the condition was deemed to have been aggravated by military service he was granted a full pension.
Sergeant Frederick Lionel Beacham died aged 31 at his 25 Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham on 1 May 1919 leaving a widow, Alice Eleanor Beacham (née Strange: born 1890) and no children. He is buried in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery, with a CWGC headstone.
(Acknowledgement: Leaving all that is dear – Cheltenham in the Great War by Graham Sacker and Joe Devereux)
Researched by Graham Adams 9 February 2012