1917-18.] 
Obituary Notice. 
9 
II. — Wm. J. Beaton, Second Lieutenant Machine Gun Company, 
Assistant Librarian, R.S.E. By The General Secretary. 
Mr Wm. J. Beaton was born on October 7, 1893. He entered the service 
of the Society as Assistant Librarian on December 6, 1909, and continued 
to fulfil his duties with the greatest efficiency until September 1914, when 
he was allowed to enlist in the 15th Royal Scots. In July 1916 he was 
wounded, and after his convalescence he applied for a commission, and 
subsequently returned to France as Second Lieutenant in the Machine Gun 
Company. According to the detailed report by his brother officer, the 
manner in which he met his death was as follows : — It was about 8 a.m. on 
the morning of the 24th September, about 4 miles east of Ypres. He was at 
the time in a German concrete pill-box, the machine guns and teams being 
at the left and right. Mr Beaton set out in a thick fog to visit the gun on 
his right, and apparently lost his way. Suddenly the fog lifted, and from 
the pill-box Lieutenant Beaton was seen at a position well forward and just 
in front of the German trench. Almost immediately he was sniped at by 
the Germans. Lieutenant Dodd and a private, Dalby by name, went out 
with a stretcher, but found that he was past hope ; he just managed to say 
good-bye. The body was brought in at night by a party of the Notts, and 
Derbyshire Regiment. 
In another letter from Lieutenant Dodd it is stated that Mr Beaton 
was the most popular officer of the Company with the men, probably owing 
to his having been in the ranks himself, and also to his cheery disposition. 
He could never do enough for them. Just before going into the trenches 
about September 20th, he discovered that the men had not a cigarette 
among them, and rode ten miles on a heavy push bike to buy them some. 
On another occasion during a heavy bombardment he insisted on remaining 
with the men, for whom there was no shelter, rather than take advantage 
of a shelter for officers. He was always thinking of the men in one way 
or another, and his death was most deeply regretted. 
The accompanying portrait is reproduced from a photograph taken by 
J. Campbell Harper, Leith, in the early part of the year, shortly after 
Mr Beaton received his commission. 
