Beverley, John Gauld

John Gauld Beverley was born on 8 March 1890 in Aberdeen, Scotland, to George and Mary Beverley. His father was a gas stoker. By 1901, the family included six children of which John was the third eldest. He migrated to Massachusetts in 1911 and worked as a carpenter.

On 7 January 1916, Beverley crossed the border at Niagara Falls and went to Toronto. On January 10 he attested for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), joining the 124th Overseas Battalion. He shipped out from Halifax on 7 Aug 1916 on the S.S. Caledonia, arriving in the United Kingdom a week later. After training in the United Kingdom, he shipped out for France joining the 4th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Central Ontario) in Le Havre on 25 Sep 1916. By the end of 1916 the Central Ontario Regiment was in the Souchez area of France, just north of Arras. At the end of January 1917, it relieved the 2nd Battalion in the trenches there. During this time there was not much movement in the lines, but artillery activity and gas shelling was active, and the battalion occasionally engaged in night patrol activity. It was at the end of January that Beverley suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his chest, back and buttocks. This occurred between 27 January and 6 February 1917, a period which the regimental diary noted as having both active artillery and machine gun fire from the German positions. Beverley was evacuated to Fort Pitt Hospital in Chatham, United Kingdom, where he was initially cared for. He was assigned to the regimental Depot but entered the Canadian Convalescent Hospital at Epsom with recurring side effects from his wounds. He was eventually discharged as fit for rear area duties in the field but stayed in the United Kingdom. In August 1917 he was transferred to the Canadian Ordnance Corps depot at Ashford, United Kingdom. He received his Good Conduct Badge in January 1918, was made Acting Lance Corporal in November of that year and Acting Corporal in March 1919. He was discharged on 13 May 1919 and left to join his Mother in Aberdeen, Scotland.

According to the 1920 Scottish electoral list he was still living with his Mother in Aberdeen but five years later is living on his own. In 1927 he moved back to the United States with his wife, Barbara. In 1930, he was living in Sommerville, Massachusetts, working as a floor layer. Ten years later he was living in Medford, Massachusetts, working as a grocer with three children. His 1942 United States draft card shows him working as a proprietor of his own grocery store. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1931.

He died on 5 February 1966 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and is buried at the Puritan Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Peabody, Essex County, Massachusetts.