William Thomas Beck (7 May 1865 – 15 January 1947) was a New Zealand Army Officer and one of the first New Zealand soldiers to land on

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

on 25 April 1915.

Early life and family

Born in

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

, Australia on 7 May 1865, Beck was the son of Sarah Beck ( Taylor) and her husband Richard Beck. Beck and his family settled in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand shortly after his birth. Beck married Edith Chick on 8 June 1896, in

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The origi ...

, New Zealand. They had three children during their marriage.

Military career

Beck was a Torpedoman Second Class in No 2 Service Company, Permanent Militia, Port Chalmers, in the 1890s. With the Garrison Torpedo Boat Corps abandoned by Imperial decree just after the turn of the century. Beck relocated to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and by 1904 was employed by the Defence Stores Department as the Defence Storekeeper for the Northern District Stores Depot, Goal Reserve, Mount Eden, with the rank of Honorary Lieutenant in the New Zealand Staff Corps. In 1914 he was the Officer in charge of the Camp Ordnance for the Auckland Divisional Camp at Hautapu near Cambridge in April 1914. The Camp ran from 28 April to 11 May and he was responsible for managing store issued from the Auckland Defence Stores, including;

"66 indicating flags, 80 Axes, 100 picks and handles, 800 water buckets, 800 wash basins, 82 picket ropes, 81 brooms, 5000 groundsheets, 13 roberts cookers, 13 horse troughs, 20 overall suits, 1320yards galvanised iron piping, a 2000 gal water tank, 1 large swimming bath, 11 flagstaffs, 500 nose bags, 566 pairs of boots, 455 mattress covers, 500 blankets".

As the Defence Storekeeper for Auckland he was soon granted the honorary rank of Captain and attached the

New Zealand Staff Corps The New Zealand Staff Corps was a corps of professional officers in the regular New Zealand Military Forces which, in peacetime, administered the Territorial Force. During the First and Second World Wars, many members of the corps commanded batta ...

. On the declaration of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Beck was mobilised deployed with the main body of the

New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

, departing Wellington on 3 December 1914 on the troopship TSS ''Maunganui''. Once in Suez, Egypt he was then attached to the New Zealand & Australian Headquarters Ordnance (NZ & Aust HQ Ordnance) of the

New Zealand and Australian Division The New Zealand and Australian Division was a composite army division raised for service in the First World War under the command of Major General Alexander Godley. Consisting of several mounted and standard infantry brigades from both New Zealan ...

as the Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services. Beck was part of General Godley's Headquarter and thus was amongst those in the first landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Lieutenant Colonel Fenwick, ADMS, another New Zealander, was part of the Headquarters landing party describes the events on that day:

"we were all ready to land but were kept waiting and waiting until about 9.00am. Some barges were moored alongside and a string of boats outside of these on the starboard side. Colonels Braithwaite, Chaytor and Manders, Major Hughes and Captain Beck and I got into the first boat. We were frightfully hampered by our kit – overcoat, revolver, glasses, map case, haversack, three days rations, firewood, Red Cross satchel, water bottle – like elephants. It was certainty that we would drown if we got sunk.
"After waiting, a steam picket boat came along in charge of a very fat rosy midshipman. he took our string of boats in tow and we were off. Our boat grounded about 50 feet from the shore and we all hopped out. Of course I fell into a hole up to my neck. I could hardly struggle ashore and when I did the first thing I saw was Beck sitting on a stone, roaring with laughter at us. Billy Beck was the first New Zealander of Godley's force (there were New Zealanders serving in the Australian Division) to get onto Gallipoli.

So not only was Beck one of the first New Zealanders ashore it would appear that he was also a bit of a character and The Hawera & Normanby Star, 24 June 1916 had this to say about Captain Beck's service at Gallipoli:

Finally, there was Captain William Beck, an ordinary officer. "Beachy Bill" was in charge of the store – a miserable little place – and whenever he put his nose out of the door bullets tried to hit it. The Turkish gun in Olive Grove was named after him, "Beachy Bill." The store was simply a shot under fire and Bill looked out and went on with his work just as if no bullets were about. He was the most courteous and humorous, and no assistant at Whiteley's could have been more pleasing and courteous than the brave storekeeper on Anzac Beach.
General Birdwood Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, (13 September 1865 – 17 May 1951) was a British Army officer. He saw active service in the Second Boer War on the staff of Lord Kitchener. He saw action again in the First World War ...
never failed to call on Captain Beck or call out as he passed on his daily rounds, asking if he were there, and they all dreaded that some day there would be no reply from a gaunt figure still in death. But Captain Beck was only concerned for the safety of his customers. He hurried them away, never himself.

On 1 August Beck was transferred to duty in Alexandria never to return to Gallipoli. Beck invalided back to New Zealand on the RMS ''Tahiti'' 20 November 1915 and a medical board had found him "incapacitated for military duty" on 25 November 1915. On 16 February 1916 he transferred into the

New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps The New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (NZAOC) was a Corps whose function was to provide, receive, store, repair, maintain, and issue: ordnance stores, vehicles, ammunition, foodstuffs, and ammunition. Ordnance Organisations had previously existed i ...

on its formation. On 27 April 1916 he was struck off the strength of the NZEF and transferred to the reserve list of officers with the rank of captain. He then resumed his pre-war duties at the Northern District Ordnance Depot.

After the war

Beck was retrenched from the military as part of the post war reductions. In civilian life, he worked for the Public Works Department. He retired in Wellington and died on 15 January 1947. He was interred in the soldiers' section of the

Karori Cemetery Karori Cemetery is New Zealand's second largest cemetery, located in the Wellington suburb of Karori. History Karori Cemetery opened in 1891 to address overcrowding at Bolton Street Cemetery. In 1909, it received New Zealand's first cremato ...

, in Wellington.

Honours and awards

Companion of the Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typic ...

Mentioned in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

1914–15 Star The 1914–15 Star is a campaign medal of the British Empire which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces who served in any theatre of the First World War against the Central European Powers during 1914 and 1915. The me ...

* British War Medal (1914–1920) * Victory Medal with oak leaf Beck's medals are now on display in the Gallipoli Room of the

Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum The Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum is a non-profit museum located at 106 Wharf Street, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. It was established and is operated by John and Else Meyers for the benefit of the Fraser Coast community. Display ...

, Queensland, Australia. The museum represents 114 soldiers, primarily with their medals, for gallantry or conspicuous service during the Gallipoli campaign.

Legacy

Beck was adopted as the patron of the

New Zealand Advanced Ordnance Depot The ANZUK Ordnance Depot was established in 1971 to provide logistical support to Australian, New Zealand and British forces stationed in Singapore and Malaysia as part of ANZUK Force. It was commanded by a Royal Army Ordnance Corps officer of t ...

, Singapore Military members club from 1986 to 1989.

External links

the Warrior his Arms'' A History of the RNZAOC and its predecessors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, William Thomas 1865 births 1947 deaths Burials at Karori Cemetery New Zealand Army officers New Zealand military personnel of World War I New Zealand Companions of the Distinguished Service Order People from Port Chalmers Australian emigrants to New Zealand