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Corporal Joseph Henry Beal
British Army 10th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
from:22 Model Place, Darlington, County Durham
(d.4th Sep 1915)
Joseph Beal was born on the 5th May 1888 at 5 Elvins Yard Darlington, the son of Henry Beal a house painter and his wife Margaret Ann. Joseph was their second child, his sister Ethel being born in 1885. He was baptised on the 30th May 1888 in St John’s Church. In the 1891 census the family are living at 11 Ridsdale Street, in 1893 his sister Eva is born. By the time of the 1901 census twelve year old Joseph and the family have moved home and they are living at 13 Model Place. Across the street at number 20 lived Thomas and Sarah Jefferson and their family! As the years passed romance blossomed between Joseph and Faith Jefferson and on 6th October 1908 they married. The service was conducted at St Hilda’s the local parish church and the following year their daughter Gladys May was born and in 1910 Faith their second daughter was born. The 1911 census lists the family as living at 67 Model Place and Joseph is working as a labourer for the “North of England School Furnishing Co. Ltdâ€.
On the 4th August 1914 Great Britain declares war on Germany and on the 17th August Joseph enlists in to the army. It must have been a difficult decision as he leaves behind his daughters and his wife whom is expecting their third child. I don’t think anyone could imagine how the events of the next twelve months would change the Beal family. Joseph joins the 10th Battalion of the DLI. As so much of Joseph’s service record is destroyed by fire it is difficult to trace all the events. However it does show him deployed in France as part of the “British Expeditionary Forceâ€.
On the 16th November 1914 Faith give birth to a son and on the 13th December 1914 he is baptised Joseph Henry, St Hilda’s parish records show Faith and the children were living with her mother Sarah at 22 Model Place. On the 1st December Joseph is promoted to Lance Corporal without pay. In the New Year Faith’s health started to fail and Joseph returns home on compassionate leave! Faith is diagnosed as suffering from Acute Nephritis (inflammation of the kidney) and she passes away on 13th January 1915. The funeral takes place at West Cemetery on the 3rd February. Faith’s mother is made the children’s guardian and she is also named as Joseph’s next of kin.
On the 1st of February 1915 promotion to Lance Corporal is confirmed with pay and on the 8th of August he is promoted to Corporal, things for the Beal seem to be changing for the better. However this was not to last as on the 4th of September 1915 Joseph was killed in action near Ypres, France. Back home life became harder for Joseph’s three children as their Grandmother Sarah struggled to make ends meet. On the 5th January 1916 wrote to the paymaster in York requesting information on any monies due to the late Corporal Beal and on the 9th March 1916 was awarded a pension of 15/- a week for her and the three children. (In 2005 15/- is equal to around £32 a week) On the 4th April 1918 Sarah received the personal effects of Corporal Beal it was his army identity disc. The wheels slowly turned and on the 8th of August 1919 the infantry records office wrote asking for information to allow the release of Joseph’s commemoration scroll on the 15th of August Sarah completed an army document (W 8050) for the dependants of a deceased soldier this was then signed off by the Rev Cowgill. Joseph’s children grew up and married living in Darlington for their whole lives.
