Souvenir ring Armentieres : Lance Sergeant R S Beveridge, 20 Battalion, AIF

Aluminium finger ring with a square face with the words 'Armentieres 1916' engraved diagonally across it. The face is scratched and some of the letters at the edge are illegible. At each side is a fleur de lys design, with the tip pointing towards the front of the ring.

This ring is associated with the service of 165 Lance Sergeant Roy Stuart Beveridge, son of John and Priscilla Beveridge. He was born at Woollahra, Sydney and enlisted on 15 March 1915. He noted his father, John, as next of kin, but his father died exactly a year later while Beveridge was serving overseas, and his mother became his next of kin. Beveridge embarked from Sydney on 25 June 1915 aboard HMAT Berrima, as a member of 'A' Company, 20 Battalion, AIF. He landed at Egypt, where the unit trained for a few months before landing on Gallipoli in mid August. From 26 August, until its withdrawal from the peninsula on 20 December, the battalion was responsible for the defence of Russell's Top. Beveridge was promoted to lance corporal in December. In March 1916 the battalion transferred to France. In July 1916 he was briefly promoted to acting corporal. On 24 July he received multiple bullet wounds and was admitted to hospital, rejoining his unit on 27 August. Beveridge was promoted to temporary corporal for two months, before reverting back to lance corporal. On 6 November he was appointed lance sergeant. On 12 November 1916 Beveridge was hit in the back by a piece of shell during the Battle of Flers and died instantly. He was buried at the top of Needle Trench, near Flers. During the subsequent fighting his grave was lost, or his remains disturbed, and his name is now recorded on the Villers Bretonneaux Memorial.This ring was not amongst the effects sent home to Beveridge's family after his death, so he had probably already sent it home to his mother as a souvenir. A cottage industry developed in the trenches during the war making souvenir aluminium rings. The rings were made from melted down fuses from German shells, or from melted down aluminium mess kits and canteens. Collecting the fuses from unexploded ‘duds’ could often be dangerous and many men were wounded attempting to salvage this material. The aluminium would be melted, then roughly cast and filed down. The resulting ring was then either engraved or had a small item, such as the front of a button, attached to the face.