A Banff Postie who later became an American, 'Delhi Durbar' & August 1914 'Le Cateau' Prisoner of War Group of 4: Pte. William Beedie 'B' Company, 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders

- 1914 Star. No clasp (9401 Pte. W. Beedie. 1/Gord: Highrs)
- British War Medal. Silver issue (9401 Pte. W. Beedie. Gordons.)
- Interallied Victory Medal (9401 Pte. W. Beedie. Gordons.)
- Delhi Durbar Medal 1911. Silver issue: Recipient confirmed

Note: Although certainly entitled to the dated clasp for the 1914 Star (he was captured on 27 August 1914), there is no evidence that the recipient ever claimed or was issued with a clasp and silver roses

Prisoner-of-War: The recipients 'German' Prisoner-of-War' records are extant and accessible with the International Red Cross Archives, which show that Private Beedie was captured in France at 'Bertry' on 28 August 1914.

The Aberdeen Weekly Journal issue of 30 October 1914, contained the below following article pertaining to Private William Beedie:

Quote,

Banffshire Prisoners of War

Fear was entertained for the safety of Private William Beedie of the 1st Gordon Highlanders, who was a Postman at Banff previous to the war. He went to France early in August and had been reported missing. A postcard has now been received from him stating that he is a prisoner at Sannelager

Ynquote.

After his capture at Bertry 28 August 1914 (the place and date that appears on all of the recipients 'German Language' extant POW records), William Beedie is known to have been incarcerated at the below following German Prisoner of War Camps in Germany:

- 1914: Sannelager
- 1917: Burgatainfurt

Medals Verification: Private William Beedie's entitlement to all 4 x medals is confirmed per the below following referenced medal rolls

- 1914 Star: WO 329/2475). Disembarked France 13/08/14. With entry 'Prisoner of War'
- British War Medal. Silver issue: WO 329/1655
- Interallied Victory Medal: WO 329/1655
- Delhi Durbar Medal 1911: WO 100/400

William Beedie son of William Beedie (an Agricultural Labourer) & Euphemia Beedie (nee Davidson) was a native of, Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where he was born on 27 February 1884. Typical for persons born into the itinerant farming families of the North East of Scotland in the Victorian and Edwardian era. the families would 'travel' and frequently relocate their places of work and residences across the counties of the North East of Scotland, principally, Kincardineshire, Aberdeenshire and Banffshire, and the Beedie family was no different. The 1891 National Census for Scotland records William living with his parents and x 3 x younger siblings, at Galeside, Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire, while the 1901 national census shows him recorded as a 'Farm Servant' residing at his employers farmhouse at Buxie, New Deer, Aberdeenshire. William beedie enlisted for service with the British Army in late March or early April 1904 and was posted to his local infantry regiment the Gordon Highlanders (Nos., 9396 J. Ogilvie; 9399 G. P. Macdonald, 9400 T.Smyth & 9404 F. Muir are confirmed having enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders on 22, 25, 28 March & 4 April respectively). After completion of his basic training at the Regimental Depot located at Castlehill Barracks in Aberdeen, William Beedie was posted to the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, with which unit he served overseas in Britih India, and where he was present at the Delhi Durbar of December 1911. Shortly after the Delhi Durbar, William returned to the United Kingdom where he was returned to civilian life after having been transferred to the Army Reserve. Immediately prior to the Great War William Beedie was employed as a Postman in Banff, Banffshire, Scotland, his appointment as a Postman at Banff, being effective from 1 September 1912, with notice published in the Edinburgh Gazette issue of, 4 October 1912. Mobilized on the outbreak of the Great War, William joined his old corps, the Gordon Highlanders and was posted to the 1st Battalion, which was one of the earliest British Infantry regiments to join the British Expeditionary Force in France, 1/Gordons having disembarked in France on 13 August 1914. William subsequently served in the Mons campaign and retreat to Le Cateau, where in the confused fighting of 26/27 August, 1/Gordons was for a period virtually destroyed as a fighting unit, the remnants being withdrawn from the frontline until brough back to strength. Captured at Bertry near Le Cateau, William Beedie is recorded being a Prisoner of War of the Germans for the remainer of the Great War, until being repatriated back to his native Scotland post-armistice in 1918

Post-War, William Beedie migrated to the United States, where he was employed as a 'Stone-Cutter'. He settled in the northern state of Vermont, and is recorded in US Census returns from 1920 - his surname appears in various variant forms in US records. William married in the United States and raised a family there. He was resident in Hardwick, Caledonia, Vermont, USA, at the time of his recorded death on, 25 October 1941

A most interesting medal group to a well travelled 'Loon' form the North East of Scotland, who died an American!

Condition: GVF

Code: 24953