Allegiance United Kingdom Name Archibald Beauman Rank Brigadier-General | Years of service 1908–1944 Service/branch British Army | |
Died 22 March 1977
Surrey, England Commands held 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment (1916–1918), 69th Infantry Brigade (1918–1919), 1st Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment (1928–1932), 15th Infantry Brigade (1934–1938), Beauman Division (1940) | ||
Brigadier Archibald Bentley Beauman CBE DSO and Bar (30 November 1888 – 22 March 1977) was a British Army officer, who at the start of the Second World War, raised and commanded an improvised force of second-line troops called the Beauman Division, in an attempt to stem the German Blitzkrieg during the Battle of France.
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Early life and military career
Beauman was born in the Paddington area of London on 30 November 1888, the son of Bentley Martin Beauman (or Baumann), a stockbrokers agent and his wife Estelle (née Beddington). His younger brother was Eric Bentley Beauman (1891–1989), a Royal Naval Air Service pilot and mountaineer.
Educated at Malvern College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Beauman was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 2nd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment in 1908. Having served in South Africa before the First World War, Beauman's battalion was amongst the first units of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) which went to France in August 1914: the "Old Contemptibles". After being invalided home in November 1914, he returned to the front in January 1915 when he served as Staff Captain, Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quarter Master General, and then acting lieutenant colonel of the 1st Battalion of the South Staffordshires. In May 1918, he took command of the 69th Brigade on the Italian Front. He was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for an action during the Battle of Festubert on 16 May 1915, when he commanded the leading company of his battalion in an assault on enemy trenches; after reaching the line allotted to his battalion, his company held the position for three days under intense artillery fire. Beauman received a Bar to his DSO in November 1917, for an action in which he re-deployed his own battalion to support another on his right which was "in difficulties" during an enemy attack. The citation states that he "proved himself to be a leader of exceptional capability". He was also mentioned in despatches six times and was awarded two Italian medals.
Remaining in the army after the war, Beauman served at the Staff College, Camberley, as a General Staff Officer (GSO) in India, as Chief Instructor at the Royal Military Academy Woolwich, and commanded the 1st Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment. Following a spell as the Chief Instructor in the Small Arms School Corps at Netheravon, he took command of the 15th Infantry Brigade which was deployed to suppress the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine; Beauman was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services there in 1937. In 1938, Beauman became an aide-de-camp (ADC) to King George VI and following his retirement in October of that year, was made an Honorary brigadier.
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Beauman returned to active service and was appointed Commanding Officer Northern Area with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, with the rank of (acting) brigadier. Based at Rouen, the main role of his command was managing logistics within the Lines of Communication area. This area was divided from the "forward area" by the River Somme but included a coastal strip up to Dunkirk. With the start of the German offensive in May 1940, Beauman was ordered by Major-General de Fonblanque, the General Officer Commanding Lines of Communication Troops, to strengthen his local defences. He formed a small mobile force, known as "Beauforce", consisting of four Territorial infantry battalions that had been intended to defend communications and undertake pioneer work. On 27 May, Beauman was promoted to (temporary) major-general and ordered to form a new division from "Beauforce" and a similar formation called "Vicforce", together with a third unit called "Digforce" which was composed of infantry reservists that were serving with the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. The new formation was called the "Beauman Division"; this was the only example of a British division being named after its commander since the Peninsular War.
Although supported only by a few field guns that had been under repair in base depots, some of them lacking sights, the division was ordered to defend a 55-mile (89 km) line defined by the small rivers Andelle and Béthune in Upper Normandy. On 8 June, the 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions attacked towards Rouen. Despite desperate fighting, the line was penetrated first at Forges-les-Eaux and then in many other places, so that by that night, Beauman Division had been forced to withdraw across the Seine. The division was eventually evacuated from Cherbourg on 17 June, during Operation Ariel. On arrival in England, the division was dispersed; an entry in the London Gazette for 16 August 1940 says: "Colonel A B Beauman, CBE, DSO, relinquishes the acting rank of Major-General on ceasing to command a Division – 21st July 1940."
In 1941, he was appointed Commanding Officer of Catterick Garrison and in 1943 became the District Officer Commanding North Riding District, before finally resuming his retirement in October 1944.
Family life
Archibald Beauman married Eva Dorothy Dunn in 1928. They had a daughter and a son, Donald Beauman, a Formula Two motor racing driver who was killed on 9 July 1955 at the Leinster Trophy race at Wicklow, Ireland, when his Connaught A-type car crashed. Eva died in 1949 and he married Barbara Arnold in 1952. In retirement, Beauman pursued his interest in horse racing, becoming Vice-Chairman of the Racehorse Owners' Association in 1959.