2nd Lt J R Benham Royal Field Artillery
SECOND LIEUTENANT J. R. BENHAM
ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
JOHN RUSSELL BENHAM was the only son of Edwin Arthur Russell Benham (O.R., 1867-69), Tea Planter, Ceylon, and his wife Grizzel Hamilton, elder daughter of John Leveson Douglas Stewart, of Glenogil, Forfarshire.
He entered the School in 1909, and passed on to the R.M.A., Woolwich, in 1913. He received his Commission, at the age of 19, in November, 1914, and went to the Front in the following January. His Section had just completed a difficult piece of work near Ypres when he was mortally wounded. He was taken to the Field Hospital at Brabant. “Perfectly calm and collected, he had a cheery smile and reply to all.” He died on the evening of the same day, May 4th, 1915. Age 19. The men of his Section spoke of his great courage, and his Commanding Officer wrote:- “During the all too short time he served with us I always found him brave, honourable, and zealous. Throughout the trying time at Zonnebeke he showed himself a soldier for all his youth.”
Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1