Most decorated · 12 medals and honours, 1 for gallantry
Colonel Rawdon Beere
Rawdon Beere was a Wellington barrister and long-serving volunteer officer who went to Samoa in 1914 as a major and finished the First World War commanding the 4th Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, where he won the DSO for the attacks at Puisieux-au-Mont and Bapaume in August 1918. He was mentioned in despatches three times, and later commanded the 2nd NZ Infantry Brigade (1925) and the Wellington Home Guard (1940-45). The Online Cenotaph credits him with a long list of campaign, long-service and commemorative medals, giving 12 items by the counting rule, of which one is a gallantry award.
12medals and honours
1of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Gallantry award
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
21 and 25 August 1918 · Puisieux-au-Mont and Bapaume, France · Lieutenant Colonel, 4th Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Gazetted: London Gazette supplement 31370, 3 June 1919 (Birthday Honours DSO list, New Zealand Force: 'Lt.-Col. Rawdon St. John Beere, 4th Bn., N.Z. Rif. Bde.'; Edinburgh Gazette 5 June 1919 p. 1856)
The citation praises two August 1918 attacks by his battalion. At Puisieux-au-Mont on 21 August it was given a very wide front, with gaps on both flanks because of the villages, and the attack succeeded largely thanks to his careful supervision of the forming up. At Bapaume on 25 August the notice was short, yet he led the men on a long night march in pouring rain over unreconnoitred ground to the assembly point. The attack succeeded but the troops on the left failed to advance; under concentrated fire he re-arranged his dispositions and encouraged the men so that the captured ground was held against several counter-attacks. He was wounded by shellfire during the fighting, but returned and resumed command of the battalion in early November. The citation ends by noting his enthusiastic energy and skill throughout. The award was announced in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours.
Online Cenotaph and the NZEF Project give the date as 3 June 1919; the Gazette supplement is headed 3 June 1919 (issue dated 30 May on the Gazette site).
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: NZEF Project, UNSW@ADFA, record for Rawdon St John Beere (https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=16426); London Gazette 31370 p. 6822; Online Cenotaph C36208 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36208)
Every other medal and honour (11)
Coronation Medal 1911 (King George V)1911 · LondonListed by the Online Cenotaph, which notes he was a member of the 1911 Coronation contingent.Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service MedalBefore 1914 (date not given) · New ZealandLong-service medal for his years in the volunteer and territorial forces (his service began in 1896).New Zealand Territorial Service MedalNot given · New ZealandTerritorial service medal for long service in the Territorial Force.Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration (Volunteer Officers' Decoration, VD)Not given · New ZealandLong-service decoration for officers of the colonial auxiliary forces.1914-1915 Star1915 · Egypt (Samoa 1914 did not qualify)Qualified by service overseas before the end of 1915: he embarked with the 2nd Battalion NZ Rifle Brigade for Egypt in October 1915.British War Medal 1914-201914-1920 · Samoa, Egypt, Western FrontIssued for his service overseas in the First World War.Victory Medal (with oak leaf)1914-1919 · Western FrontAllied victory medal for service in a theatre of war; the oak leaf records a mention in despatches.War Medal 1939-19451939-1945 · New ZealandListed by the Cenotaph for his Second World War service commanding the Wellington Division Home Guard (1940-45).New Zealand War Service Medal1939-1945 · New ZealandNew Zealand home-service medal for the Second World War, matching his Home Guard command.New Zealand Long and Efficient Service MedalNot given · New ZealandLong and efficient service medal for his decades in the part-time forces.Mentioned in Despatches1 June 1917; 28 December 1917; 11 July 1919 · Somme 1916; Messines 1917; final period of the warFirst, for work as second-in-command on the Somme (20 September to 4 October 1916), keeping ammunition and supplies moving up behind the lines. Second, for good work as a battalion commander at Messines on 7-8 June…
His story
Volunteer and barrister
Born in Wellington in 1879, Beere worked as a barrister and solicitor and began volunteer military service in 1896, rising to officer rank. He was in the New Zealand contingent for the 1911 Coronation.
He commanded the Wellington Division Home Guard; his son Ian St John Beere was killed in the Second World War (RAF).
Source: Online Cenotaph C36208 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C36208); NZ War Graves Project
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
Major1914 (Samoa embarkation)Shoulder strap: crownTemporary Lieutenant Colonel / Lieutenant ColonelBy 1917 (commanding 4th Bn NZRB)Shoulder strap: crown and one pipColonelBy 21 October 1919 (Cenotaph interwar rank; command of 2nd NZ Infantry Brigade 1925)Shoulder strap: crown and two pips
His ships
HMNZT 1 Moeraki or HMNZT 2 MonowaiSamoan Advance Party, 15 August 1914The nominal roll cannot say which of the two ships carried him.HMNZT 34 WarrimooOfficer commanding the embarkation, 2nd Bn NZRBSailed 9 October 1915 for Egypt.
Afterwards
After the war Beere stayed in the part-time forces and was appointed to command the 2nd NZ Infantry Brigade in 1925. He was a prominent Wellington figure: Papers Past shows him as president of the Wellington College Old Boys' Association in the early 1930s. When the Home Guard was formed in 1940 he commanded the Wellington Division Home Guard until 1945. His son Ian St John Beere, an RAF flight officer, was killed in the Second World War.
He died in Wellington on 19 May 1968, aged 88, and was buried at Karori Cemetery.
Later awards, not counted here: War Medal 1939-1945; New Zealand War Service Medal.
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
The Service Record
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
SERVED IN WW1: yes. Embarked 15 August 1914 as a major with the Samoan Advance Party (NZEF nominal roll, number 24/3), embarked again 9 October 1915 with the 2nd Bn NZ Rifle Brigade, commanded the 4th Bn NZRB in 1917-19 (DSO citation). Born in Wellington; nothing argues against listing him as a New Zealander of that war.
Cenotaph lists two WW1 numbers, 1/040 (Samoan force, AWMM number) and 24/3; both are the same man.
Cenotaph lists the DSO once; no bar. Gallantry count is 1 (DSO).
Duplicate reconciled: 'Volunteer Officer's Decoration (VD)' and 'Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration' counted as ONE item.
Possible overlap: the Cenotaph lists three long-service type medals (Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal, NZ Territorial Service Medal, NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal) in addition to the VD. They are counted as listed (same treatment as Hargest) but they were normally issued for successive or alternative qualifying periods and I could not read medal rolls; if any two are the same award, the total would be 10 or 11.
The Cenotaph's 'Brought to notice of the Secretary of State for War (S.)' is not a medal or an emblem and is NOT counted.
MiD: three mentions (1 June 1917, 28 December 1917, 11 July 1919) counted as ONE item. Only the first Gazette (30107 p. 5429) was read directly; the others rest on the NZEF Project transcription.
DSO citation text is from the NZEF Project; the Gazette page read (31370 p. 6822) lists only his name and unit.
Cenotaph-only items (no second source): 1914-1915 Star, BWM, Victory Medal, Coronation Medal 1911, War Medal 1939-1945, NZ War Service Medal and the three long-service items.
Cenotaph calls the Coronation Medal 'Coronation Medal 1911' and says he was in the Coronation contingent; I did not find the contingent roll.
Cenotaph says he commanded both the 2nd and 4th Battalions NZRB; the Gazette-based MiD citation shows him as second-in-command in 1916 and battalion commander at Messines (June 1917); the exact dates of his battalion commands were not pinned down.
