Robert Matthew Beatham was born on 16 June 1894 in Glassonby, Cumberland, England and migrated to Australia in 1909.

He was working as a labourer in Geelong, Victoria when he enlisted in the AIF, embarking from Melbourne for Egypt on 17 April 1915.

After serving at Gallipoli, briefly returning to Australia through illness, and later fighting on the Western Front—where he was twice wounded—Beatham rejoined the 8th Battalion in February 1918, just months before earning the Victoria Cross.

He was with the Battalion during the Battle of Amiens between the 8th and 11th of August 1918.

On the second day of the battle, they were attacking high ground near the French town of Lihons when it stalled under heavy machine gun fire.

Pte. Beatham dashed forward and, assisted by one man, bombed and fought the crews of four enemy machine guns, killing ten of them and capturing ten others.

In fighting the crew of the first gun he was shot through the right leg but continued in the advance. When the final objective was reached and fierce fighting taking place, he again dashed forward and bombed the machine gun that was holding men off, getting riddled with bullets and killed in doing so.

He was just 24 years of age.