George Beamish
Encyclopedia
Air Marshal
Sir George Robert Beamish, KCB
, CBE
, RAF
(29 April 1905 – 13 November 1967) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force
from the Second World War to his retirement in the late 1950s. Prior to World War II, whilst Beamish was in the RAF, he was a keen rugby union
player, playing for Leicester
and being capped 26 times for Ireland
and was selected for the 1930 British Lions
tour. He was also the chairman of the RAF Rugby Union and an Air Force rugby selector.
, Ireland
on 29 April 1905. He attended the Coleraine Academical Institution
and he and his three brothers went on to join the RAF.
From 1923 Beamish attended the RAF College, Cranwell as a flight cadet and after he was commissioned in late 1924, Beamish was posted as a pilot on No. 100 Squadron
. In 1934 he was made Flight Commander of No. 45 Squadron
and in 1936 he was made Squadron Leader.
After attending RAF Staff College in 1937 he was attached to the Air Staff. In 1939 he was made Senior Operations Officer for Palestine and Transjordan. On 17 May 1941 he was appointed senior RAF officer on Crete
overseeing the reception of units after their withdrawal from Greece. To aid him in this task he was allocated two RAF squadrons from Egypt, 30
and 205
to bolster the fighters already stationed on the island. But following the German Invasion of Crete
this action turned into the defence of the island. Unable to convince the Army Commander of the need to defeat the invaders from the air, the island fell and Beamish ordered the RAF squadrons to withdraw to Egypt on 19 May. Beamish remained on Crete to assist General Freyberg
, both men escaping the island aboard a Sunderland
in late May. He was then appointed Senior Air Staff Officer first at Western Desert Air Force, then at North African Tactical Air Forces and then at Second Tactical Air Force before progressing to the roles of Air Officer Commanding No. 44 Group and then No. 45 Group.
After the War he became President of the RAF Selection Board and then Director of Weapons at the Air Ministry
in 1947. He went on to be Commandant of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell
in 1949, Air Officer Commanding, Air Headquarters Iraq in 1950 and Director-General of Personnel in 1952. He last appointments were as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Transport Command
in 1954 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Technical Training Command
in 1955. In 1955, Beamish was appointed KCB
. He retired in 1958.
In 1962 he was made High Sheriff of Londonderry.
in a six all draw with England
. At the time he was representing Coleraine at club level. Beamish was then selected for the remaining games of the tournament, a home loss to Scotland and an impressive 19-3 win over Wales
. During the 1927-28 season, and now playing club rugby for Leicester, Beamish was approached to play for invitational touring team the Barbarians
.
In 1928, nearly three years after his last international game, Beamish was recalled to the Ireland team. From the first game of the 1928 Five Nations Championship
until the end of the 1933 tournament
Beamish was rarely out of the squad. In 1930 Beamish was selected for the British Isles team on their tour of Australia and New Zealand
. He played in all five Tests and 17 of the regional matches, scoring two tries
, one each against Otago and a joint Marlborough/Nelson Bay team.
After the British tour Beamish returned to the Ireland squad for the 1931 Championship
playing in all four games. He was then selected as Ireland team captain when the team faced the 1931 touring South African team in Dublin. He retained the captaincy for the 1932 Home Nations Championship
, and steered Ireland to their first Championship win for twenty years. The 1933 campiagn
was Beamish's last for Ireland, playing in all three games and captaining the team in a win over Wales. During his career, Beamish also played club rugby for London Irish
and was captain of the RAF rugby side.
George Beamish is also accredited with getting the green of Ireland represented in the kit currently worn by the British and Irish Lions
. On the 1930 tour to New Zealand, of which he was a member, the tourists wore what was by then the standard blue jerseys. These themselves caused some controversy because the New Zealand side, by then already synonymous with the appellation "All Blacks", had an all black kit that clashed with the Lions' blue. After much reluctance and debate, but having to defer to the rugby custom of accommodating guests, New Zealand agreed to change for the Tests and the All Blacks became the All Whites for the first time. Also on that tour, a delegation led by George Beamish expressed their displeasure at the fact that whilst the blue of Scotland, white of England and red of Wales were represented in the strip there was no green for Ireland. A green flash was added to the socks, which from 1938 became a green turnover and that has remained a feature of the strip ever since.
Air Marshal
Air marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
Sir George Robert Beamish, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(29 April 1905 – 13 November 1967) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
from the Second World War to his retirement in the late 1950s. Prior to World War II, whilst Beamish was in the RAF, he was a keen rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player, playing for Leicester
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...
and being capped 26 times for Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
and was selected for the 1930 British Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
tour. He was also the chairman of the RAF Rugby Union and an Air Force rugby selector.
Personal history
George Beamish was born in DunmanwayDunmanway
Dunmanway is a town in County Cork, in the southwest of Ireland. It is the geographical centre of the region known as West Cork. It is probably best known as the birthplace of Sam Maguire, an Irish Protestant republican, for whom the trophy of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship is...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
on 29 April 1905. He attended the Coleraine Academical Institution
Coleraine Academical Institution
Coleraine Academical Institution , styled locally as Coleraine Inst, is a voluntary grammar school for boys, situated in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland....
and he and his three brothers went on to join the RAF.
From 1923 Beamish attended the RAF College, Cranwell as a flight cadet and after he was commissioned in late 1924, Beamish was posted as a pilot on No. 100 Squadron
No. 100 Squadron RAF
No. 100 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is based at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, UK, and operates the Hawker-Siddeley Hawk.-World War I:No. 100 was established on 23 February 1917 at Hingham in Norfolk as the Royal Flying Corps' first squadron formed specifically as a night bombing unit and...
. In 1934 he was made Flight Commander of No. 45 Squadron
No. 45 Squadron RAF
-First World War:Formed during World War I at Gosport on 1 March 1916 as Number 45 Squadron, the unit was first equipped with Sopwith 1½ Strutters which it was to fly in the Scout role. Deployed to France in October of that year, the Squadron found itself suffering heavy losses due to the quality...
and in 1936 he was made Squadron Leader.
After attending RAF Staff College in 1937 he was attached to the Air Staff. In 1939 he was made Senior Operations Officer for Palestine and Transjordan. On 17 May 1941 he was appointed senior RAF officer on Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
overseeing the reception of units after their withdrawal from Greece. To aid him in this task he was allocated two RAF squadrons from Egypt, 30
No. 30 Squadron RAF
No. 30 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the second generation C-130J Hercules from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. The squadron operates alongside No. 24 Squadron and No. 47 Squadron all flying the Hercules.-History:...
and 205
No. 205 Squadron RAF
No. 205 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit formed on 1 April 1918. Prior to this it had existed as No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service. In 1929, it became the first RAF squadron to be permanently based in Singapore, taking as its motto Pertama di Malaya . No...
to bolster the fighters already stationed on the island. But following the German Invasion of Crete
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...
this action turned into the defence of the island. Unable to convince the Army Commander of the need to defeat the invaders from the air, the island fell and Beamish ordered the RAF squadrons to withdraw to Egypt on 19 May. Beamish remained on Crete to assist General Freyberg
Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg
Lieutenant-General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg VC, GCMG, KCB, KBE, DSO & Three Bars , was a British-born New Zealand Victoria Cross recipient and soldier who later served as the seventh Governor-General of New Zealand.A veteran of the Mexican Revolution, he became an officer in the...
, both men escaping the island aboard a Sunderland
Short Sunderland
The Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in northeast England....
in late May. He was then appointed Senior Air Staff Officer first at Western Desert Air Force, then at North African Tactical Air Forces and then at Second Tactical Air Force before progressing to the roles of Air Officer Commanding No. 44 Group and then No. 45 Group.
After the War he became President of the RAF Selection Board and then Director of Weapons at the Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
in 1947. He went on to be Commandant of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell
Royal Air Force College Cranwell
The Royal Air Force College is the Royal Air Force training and education academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to be commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is responsible for all RAF recruiting along with...
in 1949, Air Officer Commanding, Air Headquarters Iraq in 1950 and Director-General of Personnel in 1952. He last appointments were as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Transport Command
RAF Transport Command
RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967.-History:...
in 1954 and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Technical Training Command
RAF Technical Training Command
Technical Training Command was an organization within the Royal Air Force which controlled units responsible for delivering aircraft maintenance training and other non-flying training, initially in Berkshire then in Cambridgeshire.-History:...
in 1955. In 1955, Beamish was appointed KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
. He retired in 1958.
In 1962 he was made High Sheriff of Londonderry.
Rugby career
Beamish won his first international cap in 1925, at the age of 19, representing Ireland in that years Home Nations Championship1925 Five Nations Championship
The 1925 Five Nations Championship was the eleventh series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the thirty-eighth series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...
in a six all draw with England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
. At the time he was representing Coleraine at club level. Beamish was then selected for the remaining games of the tournament, a home loss to Scotland and an impressive 19-3 win over Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
. During the 1927-28 season, and now playing club rugby for Leicester, Beamish was approached to play for invitational touring team the Barbarians
Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...
.
In 1928, nearly three years after his last international game, Beamish was recalled to the Ireland team. From the first game of the 1928 Five Nations Championship
1928 Five Nations Championship
The 1928 Five Nations Championship was the fourteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty-first series of the annual northern hemisphere rugby...
until the end of the 1933 tournament
1933 Home Nations Championship
The 1933 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-ninth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Five Nations, and prior to that, the Home Nations, this was the forty-sixth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Six matches...
Beamish was rarely out of the squad. In 1930 Beamish was selected for the British Isles team on their tour of Australia and New Zealand
1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia
The 1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia was the twelfth tour by a British Isles team and the fifth to New Zealand and Australia...
. He played in all five Tests and 17 of the regional matches, scoring two tries
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
, one each against Otago and a joint Marlborough/Nelson Bay team.
After the British tour Beamish returned to the Ireland squad for the 1931 Championship
1931 Five Nations Championship
The 1931 Five Nations Championship was the seventeenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship following the inclusion of France into the Home Nations Championship. Including the previous Home Nations Championships, this was the forty-fourth series of the annual northern hemisphere...
playing in all four games. He was then selected as Ireland team captain when the team faced the 1931 touring South African team in Dublin. He retained the captaincy for the 1932 Home Nations Championship
1932 Home Nations Championship
The 1932 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-eighth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Five Nations, and prior to that, the Home Nations, this was the forty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Six...
, and steered Ireland to their first Championship win for twenty years. The 1933 campiagn
1933 Home Nations Championship
The 1933 Home Nations Championship was the twenty-ninth series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Five Nations, and prior to that, the Home Nations, this was the forty-sixth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Six matches...
was Beamish's last for Ireland, playing in all three games and captaining the team in a win over Wales. During his career, Beamish also played club rugby for London Irish
London Irish
London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices. The senior squad play home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading and compete in the top...
and was captain of the RAF rugby side.
George Beamish is also accredited with getting the green of Ireland represented in the kit currently worn by the British and Irish Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
. On the 1930 tour to New Zealand, of which he was a member, the tourists wore what was by then the standard blue jerseys. These themselves caused some controversy because the New Zealand side, by then already synonymous with the appellation "All Blacks", had an all black kit that clashed with the Lions' blue. After much reluctance and debate, but having to defer to the rugby custom of accommodating guests, New Zealand agreed to change for the Tests and the All Blacks became the All Whites for the first time. Also on that tour, a delegation led by George Beamish expressed their displeasure at the fact that whilst the blue of Scotland, white of England and red of Wales were represented in the strip there was no green for Ireland. A green flash was added to the socks, which from 1938 became a green turnover and that has remained a feature of the strip ever since.