7241 L.CPL J.BEELEY R.IR.RIF.
Joseph Beeley
Born Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lancashire 1884
To France 13/8/14 with 2nd Royal Irish Rifles & qualified for the Aug-Nov 1914 Clasp
KIA F&F 26/10/14 in fierce fighting near Neuve Chapelle during the Battle of La Bassée
Note: The 2nd Royal Irish Regiment's History (pp55-56) records:
'At 3am on 26/10/14 the enemy broke through the line in the vicinity of B & D Coys (commanded by Lts Finlay & Innes-Cross) and no further trace of these companies could be found. In the afternoon A & C were ordered up into the firing line. Four officers joined the battalion together with Major G.J.Ryan DSO, Royal Munster Fusiliers, who took command. That night the enemy was driven back & the trenches were reoccupied'
Also for 26/10/14 Cpl Lucy recorded:
"Once more the lines of German infantry, apparently inexhaustible, came over the field of dead & again those of us still sound stood up to stave them off, but our strong ranks of riflemen were gone & our weak fire caused alarmingly few casualties. The enemy swarmed everywhere in sight & wearily, with bloodshot eyes & tired limbs, we destroyed them, shooting at one group, until we saw another threatening nearer. We shot & shot and we stopped them once more on our company front, but they got in again on the left & to some purpose...
One man, not waiting to be bayoneted by assaulting Germans got out of his trench to sell his life dearly... a noted fencer, he was reported to have bayoneted six oncoming Germans & held up the attack in his immediate vicinity until a seventh German, refusing the challenge of cold steel, checked in his stride, stood back & shot the Irishman through the forehead"
Buried in Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, France
With copy of his Medal Index Card, SDGW & CWGC details plus Regimental History extract
Condition: EF
