Pte 50595 Arthur Willie Beament

• Age: 35
• From: Hamworthy Dorset
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 19th December 1917
• Commemorated at: Railway Dugout B.g. Zillebeke
  Panel Ref: VII.U.1

Arthur Willie (Bill) was born in Hamworthy, Dorset in the September quarter of 1882, the son of James Beament and his wife Emma Mary Ann (nee Haswell).

The 1891 Census finds the family resident at Broadstone, Cranford Magna, Poole, Dorset. Willie Arthur is 8 years of age and is living with his parents and six siblings. His father is a 40 year old general labourer born in Dorset, whilst his mother is 35 years of age and born in Poole. His siblings are recorded as; James H. 14 and an apprentice in an iron foundry, Sydney Geo aged 13 is a scholar, Florence E. is 10 and a scholar as are Elsie Rose aged 6 and Elizabeth Mary 4. The youngest sibling is 1 year old John F.   

On the 1901 Census the family is living at 133 Wimbourn Road, Cranford Magna,Poole, Dorset. Bill shown as Willie A. is aged 18 and is employed as a golf links labourer. His father, James  is shown as a 51 year old non domestic gardener, whilst his mother Emma M.A. is 45 years of age. His siblings are recorded as: Elsie R. 16, Elizabeth M. 14, John F. 11, Alice M. 8, Winnifred A. 5, Edgar C. 3, Belmont D. 11mths.

The 1911 Census shows Bill is living at Bruce Villa, Broadstone, Dorset with his occupation shown as a contactor and haulier. He lives with his parents and six siblings. His father is now shown as a 61 year old jobbing gardener, his mother is 55 years of age. His siblings are shown as; Elsie aged 26 and an unemployed domestic cook, John aged 21 and a carter, Alice 18 is an unemployed domestic housemaid, Winifred is a daily nursemaid, Edgar aged 13 and Belmont 10 are at school. Also recorded in the household is William Beament aged 5 and described as grandson born in Taunton. 

At the age of 29 he married Louisa Mary Stevens who was aged 27 on the 09th December 1911 at Broadstone Parish Church. They had two children; Geoffrey Arthur born in the June quarter of 1914 and Jack Oliver born in the September quarter of 1916.

Records show that he appealed against the decision of the Poole Tribunal to only grant him temporary exemption from service. His appeal was based on the "condition of his wife". 

The appeal was reported in the Bournemouth Guardian 02nd September 1916

NO EXTENTION

Arthur Willie Beament (33), haulage contractor, appealed against the decision of the Poole Rural Tribunal, who had granted him temporary exemption on account of the condition of his wife. 

The appeal was dismissed on 15th September 1916.

Bill then enlisted in Poole, Dorset joining the Royal Field Artillery with the service number 176403. He transferred to the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 50595. 

He now rests at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, in Belgium, where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"THE HAND OF GOD TOUCHED HIM AND HE SLEPT" 

The commune of Zillebeke contains many Commonwealth cemeteries as the front line trenches ran through it during the greater part of the First World War.

Railway Dugouts Cemetery is 2 Kms west of Zillebeke village, where the railway runs on an embankment overlooking a small farmstead, which was known to the troops as Transport Farm. The site of the cemetery was screened by slightly rising ground to the east, and burials began there in April 1915. They continued until the Armistice, especially in 1916 and 1917, when Advanced Dressing Stations were placed in the dugouts and the farm. They were made in small groups, without any definite arrangement and in the summer of 1917 a considerable number were obliterated by shell fire before they could be marked. The names "Railway Dugouts" and "Transport Farm" were both used for the cemetery.

At the time of the Armistice, more than 1,700 graves in the cemetery were known and marked. Other graves were then brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries in the vicinity, and a number of the known graves destroyed by artillery fire were specially commemorated. The latter were mainly in the present Plots IV and VII.

The cemetery now contains 2,459 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 430 of the burials are unidentified and 261 casualties are represented by special memorials. Other special memorials record the names of 72 casualties buried in Valley Cottages and Transport Farm Annexe Cemeteries whose graves were destroyed in later fighting.

VALLEY COTTAGES CEMETERY, ZILLEBEKE, was among a group of cottages on "Observatory Road", which runs Eastward from Zillebeke village. It contained the graves of 111 soldiers from the United Kingdom and Canada. It was in an exposed position during the greater part of the war.

TRANSPORT FARM ANNEXE was about 100 metres South-East of the Railway Dugouts Cemetery, on the road to Verbrandenmolen. The graves in it were removed to Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Zillebeke, but one officer, whose grave could not found, is specially commemorated here.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Soldiers Effects to widow Louisa M., Pension to Louisa M. and children Geoffrey Arthur and Jacob Oliver

Bill is commemorated on the following Memorials:

St John the Baptist, Broadstone

Broadstone First School

Broadstone Memorial

His wife Louisa remarried to George Knight.

We currently have no further information on Arthur Willie Beament, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.