Captain William Robert De La Cour Beamish was born in Edinburgh in September 1879 and gazetted to the Royal Engineers as a 2nd Lieutenant in June 1899. Subsequently employed with 26th Field Company, R.E. in South Africa from February 1902, he resigned his Commission as a Lieutenant in June 1905. Beamish was recalled for service in the Great War and attained the rank of Captain in July 1917. He did not, however, submit a claim for any related awards and died in October 1946.