Horace Beddoes was born in 1892 in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. His dad William was a rug weaver in one of the town’s carpet mills. The 1901 census shows that Horace’s mum Elizabeth was kept busy running the family home in a small, mid-terrace house in St. John’s Street in the town’s parish of the same name.

At this time, Horace was the middle-child of three to William and Elizabeth; he had an elder sister named Alice and a younger sister named Ethel. Just like her dad, Horace’s elder sister Alice was working in a carpet mill as a creeler, the first rung on the ladder to qualification as a weaver; she was thirteen years old.

Ten years later, the 1911 census shows that Horace’s dad William had tragically passed away; he’d died in 1904.

Perhaps it was William’s loss that drove Horace’s mum Elizabeth into the mill – she was now working as a yarn winder. Meanwhile, Horace was working in the carpet industry too, having found employment as a creeler in the Puxton mill of Jelleyman & Sons. His elder sister Alice had left home, so family finances were reliant on the hard work of Horace and his mum (thirteen-year-old Ethel had not yet started work).

In 1912, Horace married his sweetheart Nellie Teague, a Kidderminster girl who worked as a wool spinner in one of the town’s carpet mills. They set up home in Chadwick Square in the Clensmore district of town. Horace and Nellie’s new marital home was one of twenty-two houses that had been built on a site of around one third of an acre. Over 100 people were living in the Square which were served by just five washhouses and ten primitive toilets. They were without sinks, larders and coalhouses; damp was rife. During a subsequent slum-clearance programme, Chadwick Square was described by an inspecting architect as being: “The worst slum properties I have ever seen…”

A year after Horace and Nellie had tied the knot, their first child arrived; a baby boy named Thomas. Tragically Thomas died within his first year. Two years later in 1914, a daughter followed, she was christened Ivy Irene and she thrived.

The living conditions endured by Horace and his young family give an insight into the reality of his pre-war life; the hardships endured, his social standing and possibly, his aspirations for his wife Nellie and his daughter Ivy…

Horace had joined the Special Reserve in the same year that he and Nellie lost their firstborn, young baby Thomas.

The Special Reserve had been formed in 1908 with a view to providing a pool of trained manpower that the regular British Army could call upon should war break out. Unlike the existing militia, the newly formed Special Reserve placed an overseas service commitment on its members and in the event that Britain did go to war, it was expected that the Special Reserve battalions would take on the twin roles of draft finding for regular units, and home defence.

It was the former of these two expectations that saw Horace called up to the regulars in 1914 and being assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. This regiment had just returned from deployment in Malta and on the outbreak of war, was placed in the 22nd Brigade, 7th Division – a division that post-war, was described as: “One of the greatest fighting formations Britain ever put into the field…“ by the eminent military historian, Cyril Falls.

Horace shipped out with his regiment and landed at Zeebrugge on the 6th of October 1914 and was thrust into action almost immediately.

He fell six months later, on the last day of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in the Artois region of France.

The attack that Horace fell in was intended to create a gap in the German lines, through which a rush to the Aubers Ridge and then possibly Lille, could be launched. Although the British attackers broke through German defences at the village of Neuve-Chapelle, their initial success could not be further exploited.

On the 3rd of April 1915, Horace’s hometown newspaper the Kidderminster Shuttle, reported that:

“Another Kidderminster man to be added to the roll of heroes who have given their lives for their country is that of Private Horace Beddoes (884), of the 2nd Royal Warwicks, who was killed in action at the important Battle of Neuve Chapelle on March 13th.” “Private Beddoes who was 23 years of age, is the only son of Mrs. Beddoes of St. John Street. He is married and his wife and child live in Chadwick’s Buildings Clensmore.”

“He joined the Special Reserve three years ago and was called up in the early days of August on the outbreak of war. After spending some time in training, he left England for France in October and has been in the trenches some considerable time. He had two narrow escapes of losing his life and had been in several famous engagements.”

 “The King and Queen have sent a message of condolence through Lord Kitchener to the widow and family. Before the war, Private Beddoes was employed at Messrs. Jelleyman & Sons as a weaver.”

This memorial commemorates over 13,400 British soldiers who, like Horace, were killed in this sector of the Western Front from the beginning of October 1914 to the eve of the Battle of Loos in late September 1915, and who have no known grave.

The memorial takes the form of a loggia surrounding an open rectangular court. The names of those commemorated are listed on panels set into the walls of the court and the gallery, arranged by regiment, rank and alphabetically by surname within that rank.

Horace is one of at least six Kidderminster lads commemorated on this memorial.

Back in Blighty, young Horace Beddoes is commemorated on the Kidderminster War Memorial, which is situated to the front of St. Mary and All Saint’s Church. Below the names of the fallen on this memorial, the following epitaph is inscribed:

“THESE DIED THE NOBLEST DEATH A MAN MAY DIE ~ FIGHTING FOR GOOD AND RIGHT AND LIBERTY ~ AND SUCH A DEATH IS IMMORTALITY”

Rest In Peace Horace Beddoes ~ your bravery will never be forgotten ~ your sacrifice at such a young age, will be remembered For Evermore

Acknowledgements: This story could not have been told were it not for the wonderful team at the Kidderminster Museum of Carpet. Very many thanks to Geoff, Jill, Jean and Tom. Visit the museum website at www.museumofcarpet.org.uk