Philip Beckley was born in the Spring of 1894 in Bromley, Kent the youngest son of Henry George Beckley and Emma Paxton. Philip had six older siblings who were: Emily Mary, Edith, Millicent, Henry John, Robert William and May.

When Philip was born his father, Henry worked as a ‘Signalman’ with the ‘London, Chatham, Dover Railway’ however, his job meant that the family were frequently on the move. Of the seven children, only May and Philip were born in the same location; the other five children were born in towns along the Kent coast.

The nomadic life continued as the children grew up until 1901 when the Beckley family settled in Whitstable where they still lived in 1911. By this time seventeen-year-old Philip was working as a ‘Hair Dresser’ and sometime after this date the family moved for the final time to Hemel Hempstead, where both Henry and Emma had relatives. Emma’s father, John Paxton lived on Cemetery Hill and ran a well know furniture brokerage at 4 Marlowes. Henry’s cousins Frank and William also had businesses on the Marlowes.

Philip joined Frank in his hairdressing business at 72 Marlowes not far from William’s Grocery store at number 98. Not long after his arrival in Hemel Hempstead, Philip met Lily Wiseman a local girl who worked at Apsley Mills and they became sweethearts. They were married at Marlowes Baptist Church on Wednesday, 19th January 1916, the day before Philip was due to enlist.

Philip’s ‘Best Man’ at the wedding was William Arthur Barnes his friend and next-door neighbour on Cemetery Hill. William also served in the Great War and he was killed only seven months after his friend. William’s biography also appears in this book. 

A report of the marriage ceremony was published in the next edition of the Hemel Gazette.

It appears from the records that Philip was called up for service under The Military Service Act of the 27th January 1916 which brought conscription into play for the first time in the war. Along with the Defence of the Realm Act, it was possibly the most important piece of legislation in placing Britain onto a “total war” footing. The procedure for calling up the classes of men defined in the Act was laid down in Army Council Instruction 336 of 1916. The procedure was generally the same as that used to call up men from the Groups of the Derby Scheme of late 1915.

Philip would have been immediately categorised as ‘Class A’ (over 18 and with no exemptions) and further classified in ‘Group 4’ based on the year of his birth. As a result, he attested at Hemel Hempstead and enlisted with the 12th (The Rangers) Battalion London Regiment in January 1916. Following six months of basic training he was sent to France where he disembarked at Le Havre on the 6th July 1916.

Philip had been in France for only thirteen days when he and ninety-nine other men were transferred to the 1/22nd (County of London) Battalion (The Queen’s) on the 19th July. This was the battalion that had been based around St Albans and Hemel Hempstead for training purposes on the outbreak of war in 1914. Their presence in the town may have had some bearing on Philip’s enlistment with the London Regiment.

Virtually all of August and the early part of September was spent training by the Battalion for up to seven hours each day. It was also a period when further reinforcements arrived in preparation for the next phase of the Battle of the Somme which was planned for mid-September.

By the 4th September Philip was in the neighbourhood of Albert with his comrades as part of the 47th Division and daily reconnoitring was taking place around High Wood which was to be the objective of the next planned assault. On the 15th September Philip fought in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette and was part of the attack and capture of High Wood on that day. The 47th Division incurred more than 4,500 casualties, a heavy price to gain the prize of High Wood. The 22nd Battalion casualties between the 15th and 20th September were: "Killed - Officers 2, O.R.s 13; Wounded – Officers 3, O.R.s 144; Missing – Officers 1, O.R.s 58."

Philip was one of the wounded and he was evacuated to the St John’s Ambulance Hospital in Etaples. This was a hospital maintained and equipped primarily at the expense of the Order of St John and it was the largest voluntary hospital serving the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War. The hospital had a staff of 241, all from the St John Ambulance Brigade, and was considered by all who knew it to be the best designed and equipped military hospital in France, caring for over 35,000 patients throughout the war. The hospital was bombed twice in May 1918 with the result that it could not continue to operate.

Philip unfortunately succumbed to his wounds at Etaples and died on Thursday, 28th September 1916.

His was remembered in a memorial service held at Marlowes Baptist Church on Sunday, 29th October 1916, along with seven other members of the congregation who had fallen.

Philip is Remembered with Honour in Etaples Military Cemetery, Somme, France where he is interred in Grave XI. C. 8. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his wife Lily, reads: “IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY BELOVED HUSBAND UNTIL THE DAY BREAKS”

He was 22 years old when he died.

Philip was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.