Alfred George Drake VC (10 December 1893 – 23 November 1915) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was 21 years old, and a corporal in the 8th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own), British Army during the First World War, and was awarded the VC for his actions on 23 November 1915, near La Brique, Belgium. He was killed in his VC action. Citation: For most conspicuous bravery on the night of 23rd Nov., 1915, near La Brique, France. He was one of a patrol of four which was reconnoitring towards the German lines. The patrol was discovered when close to the enemy who opened heavy fire with rifles and a machine gun, wounding the Officer and one man. The latter was carried back by the last remaining man. Corporal Drake remained with his Officer and was last seen kneeling beside him and bandaging his wounds regardless of the enemy's fire. Later a rescue party crawling near the German lines found the Officer and Corporal, the former unconcious (sic) but alive and bandaged, Corporal Drake beside him dead and riddled with bullets. He had given his own life and saved his Officer. —The London Gazette No. 29447, 21 January 1916 The attached account of his actions was written by James Price Lloyd of the Welsh Regiment, who served with Military Intelligence. After the war, the government to destroyed all the archives relating to this propaganda (section MI 7b (1)). They were regarded as being too sensitive to risk being made public. Remarkably these documents have survived in the personal records of Captain Lloyd. Many of these papers are officially stamped, and one can trace the development of many individual articles from the notes based on an idea, to the pencil draft which is then followed by the hand-written submission and the typescript. The archive Tales of the VC comprises 94 individual accounts of the heroism that earned the highest award for valour, the Victoria Cross. These are recounted deferentially and economically, yet they still manage to move the reader. Date stamp: 8 February 1918. || Article with annotations.

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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