Thomas Beach (VC)

He drove the attackers back and guarded the wounded officer.

Thomas Beach was born at Dundee in 1824 and enlisted in the 92nd Regiment in 1840. He transferred to the 55th Regiment before serving in the Crimea.

At Inkerman on 5 November 1854, he encountered Russian soldiers attacking the wounded Lieutenant-Colonel Carpenter of the 41st Regiment. Beach immediately intervened, killed two attackers and protected the officer until men of Carpenter's regiment arrived. His gallantry earned the Victoria Cross, presented at Gibraltar in July 1857.

He subsequently returned to the 92nd Regiment and was discharged at Stirling in 1863. Back in Dundee, he worked as a railway labourer. He died in the Royal Infirmary on 24 August 1864 and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Eastern Necropolis.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For conspicuous gallantry at the Battle of Inkerman, 5th November, 1854, when on piquet, in attacking several Russians who were plundering Lieutenant-Colonel Carpenter, 41st Regiment, who was lying wounded on the ground. He killed two of the Russians, and protected Lieutenant- Colonel Carpenter until the arrival of some men of the 41st Regiment.

Supplement to The London Gazette of 24 February 1857. 24 February 1857, Numb. 21971, p. 660