Daniel Beak

Daniel Marcus William Beak was born in Southampton on 27 January 1891, the son of William Harknett Beak and Mary Beak. Educated at Taunton’s School, he worked as a schoolmaster and assisted in the administration of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Cheltenham before volunteering for military duty at the outbreak of the First World War. Enlisting in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a rating on 26 January 1915 under service number ZP/1061, he rose rapidly to petty officer before receiving a temporary commission as sub-lieutenant on 8 May 1915. Allocated to the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, he deployed with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force to Gallipoli, enduring the harsh defensive attrition of the trenches and serving through the evacuation of the peninsula in January 1916.

Shipped to France with the Royal Naval Division in May 1916, Beak joined the Drake Battalion on the Western Front, beginning an unbroken record of aggressive tactical combat. During the Battle of the Ancre on 13 November 1916, he spearheaded the assault against the heavily fortified Redan Redoubt; braving intense machine-gun fire, he captured the enemy trench line and secured the flank, earning the Military Cross. Promoted to acting lieutenant-commander, his courage proved decisive during the Second Battle of the Scarpe at Gavrelle on 23 April 1917, where he repeatedly pressed forward through German counter-barrages to rally scattered infantrymen and reorganize the assault waves, for which he was awarded a Bar to his Military Cross. Elevated to temporary commander of the Drake Battalion in March 1918, he faced the crisis of Operation Michael on 21 March 1918, when the German Spring Offensive fractured the British front; finding the division’s right flank dangerously exposed, Beak organized and personally led a composite rearguard that held off waves of stormtroopers, successfully covering the retirement of two entire infantry brigades and winning the Distinguished Service Order.

During the opening phase of the Hundred Days Offensive, Beak performed the prolonged acts of valour that culminated in the award of the Victoria Cross. Between 21 and 25 August 1918 at Logeast Wood and on 4 September 1918 along the Drocourt-Quéant Line near Bapaume, he commanded his men from the front under relentless shellfire. The official citation, published in the London Gazette on 15 November 1918, recorded his actions:

"For most conspicuous bravery, courageous leadership and devotion to duty during a prolonged period of operations. He led…"

King George V invested Beak with the Victoria Cross at Valenciennes on 6 December 1918. After the Royal Naval Division demobilised, he secured a regular commission in the British Army in 1921 as a captain in the Royal Scots Fusiliers under Army personal number 15892. He served in Ireland during the Anglo-Irish conflict, attended the Staff College at Camberley, and transferred as a substantive major to the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) in 1932. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1938 to command the 1st Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, he deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1939, directing fighting withdrawals to Dunkirk between March and June 1940, for which he received his third Mention in Despatches. As an acting brigadier commanding the 12th Infantry Brigade and subsequently as temporary major-general commanding troops in Malta in 1942, he coordinated island defensive measures during the height of Axis air strikes. Assigned to the Eighth Army in North Africa, he commanded the 151st Infantry Brigade in bitter close-quarters fighting across the Wadi Zigzaou during the Battle of the Mareth Line in March 1943. Wearied by wounds and operational fatigue, he was invalided back to the United Kingdom, retiring from active military service on 19 February 1945 with the honorary rank of major-general, before residing quietly in Berkshire and Wiltshire until his death at Swindon on 3 May 1967.