Name
Edward James Benwell
1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/09/1916
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
G/13494
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
12th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 12 D and 13 B.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Bushey Heath memorials
Pre War
Edward James Benwell was born in Hampstead, Middlesex, the son and youngest child of Francis and Henrietta Benwell, and was baptised on 15 February 1885 at Christ Church, Hampstead Square, Camden, London.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Back Lane (Block 2), Hampstead. London, where his father was working as a boot maker and his mother a laundress. His mother died in 1898 aged 53 and his father died in 1900 aged 65. It is not known where Edward lived after that apart from his address on enlistment which was Southgate Cottage, Bushey Heath, Herts when he was working as a gardener.
His brother William Benwell later lived at Myrtle Cottage, 14 Middle Street, Brighton with his wife Maud and family and worked as a butcher.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Kilburn, Middlesex on 6 July 1915 and joined the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex) Regiment and served with the 12th Battalion in France from 23 September 1915 when he left from Folkestone, Kent. He was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal on 27 July 1916 (later confirmed as paid).
Edward was killed in action on 26 September 1916 but has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
A war gratuity of £4 10s and pay owing of £8 17s 1d was divided between his brothers and sisters. No pension records have been found.
His brother William served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and survived the war
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Dianne Payne - ‘Bushey during the Great War. A Village Remembers’ – Bushey Museum & Art Gallery.
