PTE WILLIAM DOBIE BEATON

8 Jan 1899-15 Nov 1917

WILLIAM DOBIE “BILLY” BEATON wasborn on 8 January 1899 in Calvin, North Dakota.He was the only child of James Hector and MaryAgnes (Dobie) Beaton.

James Beaton was a farmer from Ontario. Hehad moved his family to North Dakota by thetime Beaton was born, but, in 1903, the familymoved to Western Canada as homesteaders. Toencourage settlement in Western Canada, thegovernment offered parcels of land to individu-als who were prepared to live on and farm theland for a fixed period of time.

Beaton was educated at Langham CollegiateInstitute in Langham, Saskatchwan and the Uni-versity of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

In March of 1917, while in his third year at theUniversity of Saskatchewan, Beaton enlisted asa Private with the 196th (Western Universities)Battalion. The 196th Battalion was based Winni-peg, Manitoba and recruited at universitiesacross Western Canada.

In June of 1917, Beaton went overseas to Eng-

land with the 196th Battalion on board SS Olym-pic.

Like many of the Battalions raised during WWI,the 196th Battalion did not serve in France andBelgium and it was used to reinforce the Battal-ions of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Canadian Divi-sions. Banbury was ultimately taken onstrength with Princess Patricia’s Canadian LightInfantry in mid-October 1917 and joined his newunit in France on 4 November 1917. PPCLI hadbeen in France since December of 1914 and wasserving with the 7th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadi-an Division when Beaton joined.

Beaton was killed in action on 15 November1917—only about ten days after joining PPCLIand only eight months after enlisting with theCEF. PPCLI had moved up to the Front on 14November 1917 to relieve the 43rd (CameronHighlanders of Canada) Battalion. During thenext three days, PPCLI was subjected to heavyenemy artillery and aerial attacks, and suffered59 casualties. Beaton was among the membersof the Regiment that were killed.

Beaton was only 18 years old. Like many of theCanadians killed in WWI, Beaton has no knowngrave and is memorialized on the Menin Gate(Ypres) Memorial in Belgium. He is also memo-rialized on the Memorial Gates at the Universityof Saskatchewan.

From Personnel File

Beaton, WD… 2

Beaton is not listed on the Law Society of Sas-katchewan’s WWI Memorial, but the Saskatch-ewan Virtual War Memorial identifies him ashaving been a law student and he is identified inthe University of Saskatchewan’s records ashaving been a law student.

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Memorial Gates. University of Saskatchewan, UniversityArchives & Special Collections