Beachcroft Towse

Sir Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Towse entered military service in February 1884 as a lieutenant in the 3rd (Highland (Rifle) Militia) Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders, having completed his education at Stubbington House School and Wellington College. Born in Westminster, London, on April 23, 1864, to solicitor Robert Beckwith Towse and Julia Ann Corcoran, he transferred from the Wiltshire Regiment to the Gordon Highlanders in 1886 following his Regular Army commissioning. As an officer commissioned in the late nineteenth century prior to the institutional adoption of officer service numbers, he was identified by rank and regiment rather than an assigned army service number. He married Gertrude Christie in London in October 1892. Promoted to captain on May 20, 1896, his early operational duty encompassed frontier warfare along the Indian border, participating in the Chitral Expedition of 1895 as well as the Punjab Frontier and Tirah campaigns between 1897 and 1898.

Deployment to South Africa came in late 1899 with the 1st Battalion, The Gordon Highlanders, joining Lord Methuen’s force tasked with relieving the Siege of Kimberley. During the assault at Magersfontein on December 11, 1899, British troops sustained heavy casualties under entrenched Boer fire. When Lieutenant Colonel G. T. F. Downman fell mortally wounded near the front of the firing line, Captain Towse moved to assist his commanding officer. Attempting to carry Colonel Downman on his back to safety proved impossible under concentrated small-arms fire, leading him to remain beside the wounded commander, supporting him until Colour-Sergeant Nelson and Lance-Corporal Hodgson reached their position.

Operations shifted toward Pretoria the following spring under Lord Roberts and Lieutenant General Ian Hamilton. On April 30, 1900, during the engagement at Mount Thaba, Captain Towse led twelve men from the Gordon Highlanders and Kitchener's Horse to occupy an isolated plateau on the summit. A force of approximately 150 Boers commanded by Colonel Yevgeny Maximov, a Russian volunteer, mounted an assault on the same position. Neither force observed the other until separated by one hundred yards. When Boer fighters closed within forty yards and demanded surrender, Captain Towse ordered immediate fire and counter-attacked. A gunshot fired by Maximov struck Captain Towse in the head, shattering both eyes and inflicting permanent blindness. His aggressive defence rallied his men, repulsed the enemy, and held the crest.

The London Gazette published his Victoria Cross award on July 6, 1900, with the complete citation reading:

"On the 11th December, 1899, at the action of Magersfontein, Captain Towse was brought to notice by his Commanding Officer for his gallantry and devotion in assisting the late Colonel Downman, when mortally wounded, in the retirement, and endeavouring, when close up to the front of the firing line, to carry Colonel Downman on his back; but finding this not possible, Captain Towse supported him till joined by Colour-Sergeant Nelson and Lance-Corporal Hodgson. On the 30th April, 1900, Captain Towse, with twelve men, took up a position on the top of Mount Thaba, far away from support. A force of about 150 Boers attempted to seize the same plateau, neither party appearing to see the other until they were but 100 yards apart. Some of the Boers then got within 40 yards of Captain Towse and his party, and called on him to surrender. He at once caused his men to open fire and remained firing himself until severely wounded (both eyes shattered), succeeding in driving off the Boers. The gallantry of this Officer in vigorously attacking the enemy (for he not only fired, but charged forward) saved the situation, notwithstanding the numerical superiority of the Boers."

Queen Victoria presented the Victoria Cross at Windsor Castle on July 18, 1900. That same year he gained appointment as Sergeant-at-Arms in Ordinary to the Queen, subsequently joining the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in 1903, a role he maintained until 1939. Following the outbreak of the First World War, despite total loss of vision, he re-entered active duty as a staff officer attached to base hospitals across France and Belgium. He spent his service comforting wounded soldiers and managing ex-servicemen's welfare schemes, earning a Mention in Dispatches.

Civic and welfare leadership dominated his later career. He directed the British and Foreign Blind Association as chairman, established the British Wireless for the Blind Fund in 1928, provided funding to launch commercial soap manufacturing at the Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind, and served as Vice Patron of St Dunstan's. During the 1940 air bombardment of Great Britain, he opened his private residence to house and rehabilitate civilians blinded in bombing attacks. His civil honours included appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1927, and Knight of Grace of the Order of St John in 1916. He died at Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, on June 21, 1948, and was buried in the churchyard of St Thomas of Canterbury.