Thomas Beat

Military Information

  • Date of enlistment: 29.09.1914
  • Place of enlistment: Valcartier, Quebec.
  • Service no: 23021
  • Rank: Private
  • Service Occupation:
  • Awards:
  • Regiment/Service: Canadian Infantry
  • Unit/Ship: Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
  • Place of Death: England
  • Age at Death: 40
  • Date of Death: 28.05.1915
  • Burial Country: Scotland
  • Cemetery: Barnhill Cemetery, Broughty Ferry
  • Grave/Mem Ref no: 2.F.134

Personal Information

  • Date of Birth: 18.11.1874
  • Place of Birth: Monifieth
  • Address:
  • Occupation: Machinist
  • Mother:

    Elizabeth Beat (nee Myles) Constable Cottage, West Ferry, Dundee

  • Father:

    Thomas Beat, Constable Cottage, West Ferry, Dundee

  • Siblings:

    Bella, James, Mary, David, John & Maggie

  • Spouse:
  • Children:

More about Thomas Beat

Thomas was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Beat of Broughty Ferry. He originally enlisted and served under the name of James Leighton McDonald and listed a John McDonald of 298 Argyle St, Glasgow as his father. Thomas originally joined the 12th Battalion, Canadian Infantry and transferred to the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry  joining them in the field in February 1915. He suffered a gun shot wound to the back and gas poisoning on 8th May 1915 during fierce fighting at Bellewaerde Lake/Frezenburg, Belgium and was invalided back to England on 11th May. He Died at Boscome on 28th May 1915 when his body was returned to Broughty Ferry for burial in a family plot.

When Thomas attested he listed his date of birth as 22 November 1882 and Glasgow as his birthplace, Scottish Baptism records record that he was actually born at Monifieth, 13 November 1874.

The family gravemarker lists the surname as Beat, all records lists his surname as Beats.

For more information on Thomas visit Thomas’s Memorial and Thomas’s Regimental Record and War Graves Register

There are several references to Thomas within Dundee newspapers held within Dundee Central Library.

Peoples Journal 29/05/1915 page 14, Courier 15/05/1915 page 6 and 29/05/1915 page 6, Advertiser 15/05/1915 page 8 and 29/05/1915 page 9, and Evening Telegraph 14/05/1915 page 3.

Information researched and supplied by Gary Thomson, image kindly supplied by Michael Caldwell

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