Name Edmund Beard | Died 1974 | |
Parents Gertrude Alice Maud Figgis, Charles Thomas Beard Grandparents Charles Thomas Beard, Mary Ann Jones People also search for Charles Thomas Beard, Gertrude Alice Maud Figgis, Mary Ann Jones | ||
Major General Edmund Charles Beard (21 April 1894 – 20 January 1974) CB CBE MC was a British Army officer during the Second World War and in 1946 aide-de-camp to the king, George VI.
Quoted from Nick Smart, Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War, p. 26
"Educated at Marlborough and Oxford University, 'Paddy' Beard was commissioned in the Royal Irish Regiment in 1914. His First War service was at Gallipoli and Salonika, in Palestine and in France. Mentioned in despatches and wounded, he was awarded the MC in 1917.
Transferred to the Prince of Wales's Volunteers in 1922, the year he married, Beard was a staff captain in India for the next four years and attended the Staff College, Camberley 1927–1928. After a period on the staff of Southern Command, he was Brigade Major 9th Infantry Brigade 1930–1933 and for the next five years served on the staff at the War Office. Transferring to the Duke of Wellington's Regiment in 1937, he commanded the 1st Battalion in 1939.
Assistant Adjutant and QMG with the 44th Division in France with the BEF, Beard commanded 133rd Infantry Brigade in England 1940–1942 and was BGS Home Forces 1942–1943. Promoted major general that year, he held area command in India until 1946 when he retired from the army.
A keen sportsman who excelled at golf, Beard was Colonel of the South Lancashire Regiment 1948–1957. His eldest son was killed in Malaya in 1952."
His portrait as a major general is in the National Portrait Gallery in London.