Born in 1889 at Bow, son of Alfred (Merchant of Fancy Goods and Musical Instruments) and Alice Maud Beavon. A choirboy and tenor soloist at St John’s Leytonstone where he was Baptised on 9th October 1902. 1911: A Corn Trade Clerk with his family at 29 Empress Avenue, Wanstead. He later became a Partner in a firm of Baltic and Corn Exchange Merchants. On 14th February 1914 he married Jessie Sarah Metcalf at St John’s Leytonstone, and they settled at “Burniston” Monkhams Drive, Woodford Green.
He joined the Artists Rifles as Private 10083 and was trained at Gidea Park. He was Commissioned, and at his own request was allocated to the Gloucestershire Regiment and left for France on 10th July 1917.
This attack near St Julien during the latter stages of the Third Battle of Ypres, intended to capture the German line beyond the Langemark Road. Heavy rain had created a swathe of mud. At 13.55 an artillery barrage began, after which the attackers advanced in the face of determined opposition, including machine guns located in shell holes forward of the main German line. Beavon was clearing barbed wire and urging his men forward when he was hit in the head by machine gun fire. He was killed near Gallipoli Farm south west of Gravenstafel and north of Zonnebeke. This engagement advanced the British lines by some 200 yards.
After the war his widow was living at 4 Seagry Road, Wanstead, and he is remembered on the Roll of Honour at St Gabriel’s Church Aldersbrook Road.
Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian
Sources:
Woodford Times.com
Ancestry.com