Beet was 27 years old, and a corporal in the 1st Battalion, Derbyshire Regiment, British Army during the Second Boer War when the following deed took place on 22 April 1900 at Wakkerstroom, South Africa, for which he was awarded the VC: At Wakkerstroom, on the 22nd April, 1900, No.

2 Mounted Infantry Company, 1st Battalion Derbyshire Regiment, with two squadrons, Imperial Yeomanry, had to retire from near a farm, under a ridge held by Boers.

[1]He stayed in South Africa until after the war had ended in June 1902, and returned to the United Kingdom on the SS Syria in September that year.

He later emigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada, where he fought with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I.

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Sherwood Foresters Museum, The Castle, Nottingham, England.