Died 1974 Years of service 1900–1945 Rank Major general | Name Edward Beck | |
Commands held 2nd Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry2nd Infantry Brigade9th (Highland) Division Battles/wars Second Boer WarWorld War IWorld War II Battles and wars Second Boer War, World War I, World War II | ||
Major General Edward Archibald Beck, DSO (1880–1974) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division during World War II.
Military career
Educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Beck was commissioned into the Royal Scots Fusiliers as a second lieutenant on 20 January 1900. He left Southampton in the SS Assaye the following month, to take part in the Second Boer War with the 2nd battalion of his regiment. Seconded to the Egyptian Army in 1909, he then saw active service in the First World War, during which he was six times mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He was appointed Chief Instructor at the Small Arms School at Hythe in 1925, Commander of the 2nd Battalion the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1929, and Instructor at the Senior Officers' School at Sheerness in 1932. He went on to be a staff officer with Scottish Command in 1933, Commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1935 and Director of Personal Services at the War Office in 1938. He served in the Second World War as Commander of the 9th (Highland) Division before retiring from the regular army in 1940, continuing his war service with the Perthshire Home Guard until the end of the War.