Will was born on 26th July 1890 in Easton Royal, Wiltshire, the oldest of four brothers born to Joshua and Ellen (Farrow) Beckingham. He died on 19th April 1956 in Savernake Hospital, Marlborough, Wiltshire. He married my grandmother, Phyllis Fitchett on the 5th April 1915 at Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire and the marriage certificate shows him to be in the 3rd Battalion, the Wiltshire Regiment. Two children, Mary Ellen and Reginald, survived them. I always knew that he had been wounded in WWI, but not as many times as he actually was. I was fortunate in that my Grandmother kept the letters that she received from the Army advising of Granddad's hospitalisations and these have now come into my possession. I have also obtained copies of the War Diaries kept daily by, usually, an Adjutant of the Battalion to record what was actually happening wherever the Battalion was. I think that to make it easier to read, I will try and record Granddad's WWI service as a diary that he may have kept, (but that I have not found). There are several photographs that supplement the narrative and I have inserted these along with the War diary extracts (in italics) in the attached PDF file. || || 16th General hospital at Le Treport. I am standing, sixth in from the left with my arm in a sling. || Photograph || Hospital Group || || William Henry Beckingham || 18619 William Henry Beckingham || Photograph || || Diary || Possible diary for Will Beckingham

Story and photograph || George was the third son of my great grandparents, Joshua and Ellen (Farrow) Beckingham, and according to the plaque in Milton Lilbourne church, like his brother, William, served in The Wiltshire Regiment. However, we can see from his uniform that the cap badge is clearly not from the Wiltshires. After some research I was been advised that this is a Devonshire Regiment uniform and therefore George Alfred is the George Beckingham recorded in the Medal Roll Index as George Beckingham and served initially with the Worcestershire Regiment as Pte 13048 and then with the Devonshires as Pte 41769. George was sent to the Asiatic and arrived there on 21st March 1915 and was medically discharged on 1st November 1915. I have been unable to locate any soldier’s papers for George and cannot ascertain which Battalion(s) he may have served in. As a matter of interest, the “Devons” raised 29 different battalions during WWI, each being between 800 and 1000 men strong. 25 of these battalions saw active service with the other four being training or service battalions. George was born on 13th September 1894 in Easton Royal, Wiltshire and married Elizabeth May Sharpe on 26th May 1923 in Winchester. He died in Winchester on 20th April 1963. For his service in WWI, George was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British and Victory medals, along with the Silver Star. || || George Alfred Beckingham in uniform || Photograph || George Alfred Beckingham

World War One Medals