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Auction: 7012 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 902

Pair: Second Lieutenant R.A. Beale, Gloucestershire Regiment British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. R.A. Beale.), extremely fine (2) Estimate £ 120-150 Second Lieutenant Robert Anthony Beale, born in Deesa, India, the son of Colonel A. Beale, Indian Army, 14.11.1897; educated at Cheltenham College; entered R.M.A., Sandhurst, 1914; Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 16.6.1915; after qualifying as Instructor in Drill, Musketry, and Bombing, left for the front 17.9.1916; joined 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment in France, 27.9.1916. On the 15th March, 1917, the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment were ordered to relieve the South Wales Borderers in the front line at Assevillers, in the Somme. Due to the muddy condition of the trenches, the relief took longer than expected, but, when almost complete, Second Lieutenant Beale and another officer climbed out of the trench in the dark to inspect the ground in front of the Company Headquarters. According to Regimental folklore, Beale was smoking a cigar at the time, and the light from this was spotted by the enemy lookouts, bringing a burst of fire down upon him and killing him instantly. He is buried in Assevillers New British Cemetery, France.

Sold for
£220