Middleton Beckett

Middleton Beckett, service number 24/971

This studio portrait shows Rifleman Middleton Beckett, service number 24/971, of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.

Middleton was born at Norsewood on 17 August 1896, but stated when he attested for service that his date of birth was 17 August 1894. He was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School and first worked as a clerk with the Bank of New South Wales at Napier, later transferring to its Christchurch branch.   He volunteered for service at the outbreak of war, but was rejected as being too young.  In May 1915 he tried again, falsifying his age by two years, and was enlisted in the newly formed Rifle Brigade.

Middleton was assigned to the Brigade's 2nd Battalion and trained at the new camp at Rangiotu in the Manawatu. The Brigade had not yet been issued with metal cap and collar badges, and the temporary distiguishing patch of each battalion was a piece of black cloth on the hat - a diamond for the 1st and a rectangle for the 2nd. The patch shows clearly on Middleton's service cap and, since metal badges were not issued to the Rifle Brigade prior to 31 August, his visit to the Berry studio can be dated to a week's leave from 20-27 August.

The 2nd Battalion sail from Wellington on 9 October,  later that year fighting pro-Turkish Senussi tribesmen in Egypt's Western Desert. But the Battalion was to face a much more sophistiticated enemy when it was sent to France in April 1916 to fight against Germany.

On the night of 26 May, Middleton was on a night patrol near Armentieres, laying barbed wire in front of the Brigade's trenches, when a shell fragment struck him in the back. He was taken to a casualty clearing station, but died of his wounds two days later and was buried at Bailleul. He was not yet twenty. Middleton was one of the first Rifle Brigade men to die on the Western Front.