Robert McBeath

He stormed enemy posts and silenced guns to protect his men.

Robert Gordon Mc Beath grew up near Kinlochbervie in Sutherland. He enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders in 1914 while still a teenager and served in France and Flanders. By 1917 he was a lance corporal.

West of Cambrai on 20 November 1917, machine guns halted the advance. Mc Beath volunteered to approach with a Lewis gun and revolver, shooting one gunner. With assistance from a tank he drove other crews into a dugout, followed them inside and captured three officers and 30 men. His Victoria Cross recognised this action and his conduct during the fighting.

He married Barbara Mac Kay in 1918. After the war they emigrated to Canada. He joined the British Columbia police and became a Vancouver constable in 1921. On 9 October 1922, a prisoner shot him while being escorted after arrest. Mc Beath died shortly afterwards in hospital, ending his second career in public service.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous bravery when with his company in attack and approaching the final objective, a nest of enemy machine-guns in the western outskirts of a village opened fire both on his own unit and on the unit on the right. The advance was checked and heavy casualties resulted. When a Lewis gun was called for to deal with these machine-guns, L./Cpl. McBeath volunteered for the duty, and immediately moved off alone with a Lewis gun and his revolver. He located one of the machine-guns in action, and worked his way towards it, shooting the gunner with his revolver. Finding several other hostile machine-guns in action, he, with the assistance of a Tank, attacked them and drove the gunners to ground in a deep dug-out. L./Cpl. McBeath, regardless of all danger, rushed in after them, shot an enemy who opposed him on the steps, and drove the remainder of the garrison out of the dug-out, capturing three officers and thirty men. There were in all five machine-guns mounted round the dug-out and by putting them out of action he cleared the way for the advance of both units. The conduct of L./Cpl. McBeath throughout three days of severe fighting was beyond praise.

Sixth Supplement to The London Gazette of 8 January 1918. 11 January 1918, Numb. 30471, pp. 723-24