GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY 1702
A good Great War ‘U-boat kill’ D.S.C. group of three awarded to Lieutenant F. E. Beeching, Royal Naval Reserve and Mercantile Marine, in which latter capacity he was a Captain in the service of the Great Eastern Railway Company’s fleet
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS, G.V.R., hallmarks for London 1919; BRITISH WAR MEDAL 1914-20 (Lieut. F. E. Beeching, R.N.R.); MERCANTILE MARINE WAR MEDAL 1914-18 (Frederick E. Beeching), good very fine (3)
£1200-1500 D.S.C. London Gazette 22 December 1916: ‘In recognition of zeal and devotion to duty shown in carrying on the trade of the country during the War.’
Frederick Edward Beeching, who was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in 1873, the scion of a local shipbuilding family.
Master of the Great Eastern Railway Company’s S.S. Cromer on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was employed on the Harwich-Rotterdam run, carrying refugees and Foreign Office despatches, in addition to fulfilling her usual commercial interests, which former work won him a recommendation for a commission in the Royal Naval Reserve in March 1915 (T.N.A. ADM 116/1464 refers). But it was for his gallant actions in April 1916 that he was awarded his D. S.C. Keble Chatterton’s Amazing Adventure takes up the story:
‘The Great Eastern Railway S.S. Cromer was on her way back from the Hook of Holland, doing her commercial passage under the command of Captain F. Beeching. It was a fine, clear, but dark, night and the time 11 p.m. The steamer had reached a position some half a dozen miles west of the Maas Lighthouse, when UB-13 (another lucky number!) could be seen about a couple of points on the starboard bow and trying to head the Cromer off. Captain Beeching, a fine sailorman and ship-handler, then tried one of those feats which to the layman seem so simple, but naval history has proved not so easy. To ram your enemy when steaming at high speed, and to strike him fairly instead of with a glancing blow, takes real seamanship and quick judgment even in daylight: but at night the task is considerably more tricky. Captain Beeching, however, determined to try saving his ship and passengers by attacking the enemy without further waste of time.
The Cromer had no other weapon than her stem, and at that moment she was hopping along doing thirteen and a half knots. Porting her helm, she made for the vague shape, and a violent impact followed. It was a sliding blow, so that the submarine came against the steamer’s starboard bow, then down the latter’s side till it banged heavily at the Cromer’s stern. A great commotion rose from the submarine’s conning tower, and shouts were heard in a foreign tongue, but the steamer wisely did not wait to investigate further and hurried homewards. Her weight and speed and bilge keel had combined to effect useful service. When, presently, in England, a diver went down to examine the damage, he reported that the fore end of her starboard bilge keel (which was nine feet below water) had been scored, and another long mark was observed on that side some eighteen inches below the waterline. Before the end of the month she went into dry dock and the scratches were clearly revealed. One more unfortunate submarine had been accounted for ... ’
In addition to being decorated, Beeching was given a reward of £750 from the Admiralty, together with other public gifts, including £500 from Lord Glanly, who had set up a fund to recognise the gallantry of Masters of unarmed merchantmen following the murder of Captain Charles Fryatt on 27 July 1916 (Syren and Shipping refers).
Also a result of this gallant exploit, and in order to avoid a similar fate as Captain Fryatt, Beeching was relieved of his command and appointed an Assistant to the Shipping Intelligence Officer at Newcastle in the rank of Temporary Lieutenant, R.N.R., and in which capacity his name was brought to notice in the London Gazette of 16 September 1919.
Beeching, who returned to his duties with the Great Eastern Railway Company, died in November 1948; sold with original Board of Trade forwarding letter for his Mercantile Marine War Medal, dated 12 July 1921, and one or two old newspaper cuttings.
www.dnw.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256 |
Page 257 |
Page 258 |
Page 259 |
Page 260 |
Page 261 |
Page 262 |
Page 263 |
Page 264 |
Page 265 |
Page 266 |
Page 267 |
Page 268 |
Page 269 |
Page 270 |
Page 271 |
Page 272 |
Page 273 |
Page 274 |
Page 275 |
Page 276 |
Page 277 |
Page 278 |
Page 279 |
Page 280 |
Page 281 |
Page 282 |
Page 283 |
Page 284 |
Page 285 |
Page 286 |
Page 287 |
Page 288 |
Page 289 |
Page 290 |
Page 291 |
Page 292 |
Page 293 |
Page 294 |
Page 295 |
Page 296 |
Page 297 |
Page 298 |
Page 299 |
Page 300 |
Page 301 |
Page 302 |
Page 303 |
Page 304 |
Page 305 |
Page 306 |
Page 307 |
Page 308 |
Page 309 |
Page 310 |
Page 311 |
Page 312 |
Page 313 |
Page 314 |
Page 315 |
Page 316 |
Page 317 |
Page 318 |
Page 319 |
Page 320 |
Page 321 |
Page 322 |
Page 323 |
Page 324 |
Page 325 |
Page 326 |
Page 327 |
Page 328 |
Page 329 |
Page 330 |
Page 331 |
Page 332 |
Page 333 |
Page 334 |
Page 335 |
Page 336 |
Page 337 |
Page 338 |
Page 339 |
Page 340 |
Page 341 |
Page 342 |
Page 343 |
Page 344 |
Page 345 |
Page 346 |
Page 347 |
Page 348 |
Page 349 |
Page 350 |
Page 351 |
Page 352 |
Page 353 |
Page 354 |
Page 355 |
Page 356 |
Page 357 |
Page 358 |
Page 359 |
Page 360 |
Page 361 |
Page 362 |
Page 363 |
Page 364