Stanley Charles Beer - Private - Welsh Regiment – 2nd Battalion

 Stanley Charles Beer was born in Swansea in 1891, the son of Frederick Beer and Jane Manley, who had married in Swansea in 1881.

1901 Census

At the time of the 1901 Census, the Beer family were living at 93 Holyhead Road, Handsworth, Staffordshire. Stanley’s father, Frederick, aged 37, was employed as a painter and decorator, while his mother, Jane, was 36 years old.

Four children were recorded in the household. Their eldest son, Fred J., aged 17, had followed his father into the painting and decorating trade. Ethel M. was 15 years old, while Rosina J. and Stanley C. were both recorded as aged 12.

1911 Census

By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had returned to Swansea and were living at 5 Osborne Terrace, Bryn Road. Frederick, now aged 48, had changed his occupation and was employed as a commercial traveller, while his wife, Jane, was 47 years old.

Four of their children remained at home. Ethel, aged 24, was occupied with household duties, while Stanley, recorded as aged 18, was employed as a painter, following the same trade that his father had previously practised.

His younger brother, Archibald, aged 16, was employed in the drapery trade, while their youngest sister, Doris, aged 12, was still attending school.

Also present in the household on the night of the census was a visitor, John Hackless, aged 22, who was employed as a plasterer.

Having spent part of his childhood in Handsworth before returning to Swansea, Stanley would have experienced life in two busy industrial communities. His employment as a painter suggests that he had acquired practical skills in a trade that provided work in the building and decorating industries.

Following the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Stanley entered military service, joining the Welsh Regiment. He served as a Private with the 2nd Battalion, a regular army battalion which saw extensive service on the Western Front.

The 2nd Battalion formed part of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, and participated in several major engagements during the war, including the fighting in the Ypres Salient in Belgium.

By the autumn of 1917, British and Commonwealth forces were engaged in the final stages of the Third Battle of Ypres, commonly known as the Passchendaele campaign.

The offensive had begun on 31st July 1917 and developed into one of the most difficult and costly campaigns of the First World War. Heavy rainfall, relentless artillery bombardments and the destruction of the drainage systems had transformed much of the battlefield into a landscape of deep mud, flooded shell holes and shattered trenches.

The fighting around the villages of Poelcapelle and Passchendaele was particularly severe, with British and Commonwealth troops attempting to capture heavily defended German positions across ground that had been devastated by months of shellfire.

Although the Canadian Corps captured the village of Passchendaele on 6th November 1917, fighting continued in the surrounding areas as both sides attempted to consolidate their positions.

It was during this period that Stanley lost his life.

Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects

The Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects record that Private Stanley Charles Beer was killed in action on 17th November 1917, during the final stages of the fighting in the Ypres Salient.

Although the precise circumstances of his death remain unknown, his date of death places him among the casualties of the continuing operations in Flanders during November 1917.

Stanley was approximately 26 years old when he lost his life.

Stanley Charles Beer
Poelcapelle British Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
credit - findagrave

He was laid to rest at Poelcapelle British Cemetery, near Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium.

The cemetery contains the graves of thousands of British and Commonwealth servicemen who lost their lives during the fighting in the Ypres Salient. Many of those buried there were casualties of the battles of 1917, although the cemetery also received graves brought in from surrounding battlefields and smaller burial grounds after the Armistice.

For his parents, Frederick and Jane, and his brothers and sisters back in Swansea, Stanley's death brought the devastating loss of a son and brother who had left his home in Bryn Road to serve his country.

Having worked as a painter before the war, Stanley was among the many young tradesmen whose civilian lives and prospects were interrupted by the conflict. His death meant that he would never return to the family and community he had known in Swansea.