Corporal Harry Churchill Beet VC (litho)

Corporal Harry Churchill Beet VC. From a group of 14 cigarette cards, No 68 from a series of 125, 'VC Heroes - Boer War', 1898-1900. Published by Taddy and Company, 1902. Harry Churchill Beet (1873-1946) was a corporal in the 1st Battalion, The Derbyshire Regiment, when he won the Victoria Cross (VC) during the Boer War (1899-1902). According to ‘The London Gazette’ of 12 August 1902: ‘At Wakkerstroom, on the 22nd April, 1900, No. 2 Mounted Infantry Company, 1st Battalion Derbyshire Regiment, with two squadrons, Imperial Yeomanry, had to retire from near a farm, under a ridge held by Boers. Corporal Burnett, Imperial Yeomanry, was left on the ground wounded, and Corporal Beet, on seeing him, remained behind and placed him under cover, bound up his wounds, and by firing prevented the Boers from coming down to the farm till dark, when Doctor Wilson, Imperial Yeomanry, came to the wounded man's assistance. The retirement was carried out under a very heavy fire, and Corporal Beet was exposed to fire during the whole afternoon’. Beet later achieved the rank of captain and emigrated to Saskatchewan in Canada. During World War One he fought with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In 1936 he settled in Vancouver where he remained until his death in 1946.