Zuydcoote Military Cemetery. Source: Wikimedia
Bertie and Raymond Beatson were the oldest and youngest sons of Horace and Fanny Beatson. Horace listed his occupation as ferrule maker, cap and ferrule maker for cutlery on census returns, and silversmith in later years. Bertie was their third child and one of eight children; two died in infancy. It is not known whether he enlisted or was conscripted in 1916, but aged 23, a Lance Corporal in the Royal Engineers, he died from wounds received in action at 36th Casualty Clearing Station 31st August 1917 and was buried in Zuydcoote Military Cemetery in Northern France.
Raymond, born a month later in September 1917, must have been some consolation to his grieving parents. Certainly, he had a different life from his older siblings. Bertie had been a grocer’s assistant at 17, and Raymond’s older sister Mabel at work in an office at 14. Raymond was able to stay on at school and eventually gain a BA Honours degree in French and Latin, and then to achieve a Masters degree in Languages. Raymond, a gunner with the Royal Artillery in the Second World War, was 25 when he died. Stationed at Frome in Somerset, he was found in the river at Oldford. The verdict of the inquest was ‘Death by Misadventure’. He was not a good swimmer, although he wanted to improve, and it was thought that he had drowned following a heavy meal. He was described as a good soldier, trustworthy and reliable but rather reserved in character.
The brothers were both commemorated on the family monument I1 61, Anglican area which is now lost.
You can read more about those who died in the First World War who are commemorated in the Cemetery in the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust’s publication A Life Too Soon Done.