Whilst visiting a friend in The Priory Hospital, Cheadle Royal I came across this memorial to soldiers killed in World War1.
Finding such a small memorial is a sanguine reminder of the all-pervasiveness of the toll of that terrible conflict.
Intrigued, I decided to research these men with the view to telling all of their stories, however after starting out on this project I discovered so much detail about the first entry on the board that it provided a complete story of its own.
So I decided to initially only chronicle this story and shelve the remaining soldiers’ histories until a follow-up piece.
John was a corporal in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers when he died of wounds in the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester (1) on 1st September, 1916. He had been wounded by a gunshot wound in the thigh during the fighting near Givency, France on 6th July 1916.
Corporal Bennett’s grave is located in St. Paul’s Churchyard in the Portwood area of Stockport which is the same parish that he was born in, during December, 1887.
His parents were John, a cotton spinner and his Worcester born wife Mary, and he had 3 siblings who survived to adulthood viz. two brothers, an older one, Herbert,(2) and William,(3) who was younger and also a sister,
Mary the youngest child. Both his brothers also died whilst on active service. (see notes for their records) The long term family residence was 30, Hanover Street, Portwood, Stockport. The young John Bennett began working as a spinner in a cotton mill but on 21st March, 1907 he enlisted at Cheadle into the 2nd battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, joining the colours for a seven year engagement.
After his initial training and a short spell in Ireland he spent five years in India before returning to England in time for his transfer to the Army reserve list in March 1914. Only a few months elapsed of that fateful year before, John was back in uniform in his old regiment and battalion following the general mobilization of the British Army on 5th August, 1914 at the outset of World War 1.
The army records of Corporal Bennett are both very extensive and revealing. They tell of a number of disciplinary issues involving drunken behaviour in his early military career both while stationed at Cork in Ireland and later during his first year in India.
These resulted in a number of field punishments loss of pay and on one occasion demotion in rank from lance corporal to private. After these initial problems, however, John appears to have adjusted well to army life and his last two years of service finding a happy niche as a hospital orderly at Quetta(4) in India.
He is recorded as attending two courses, as a stretcher bearer on 11th March, 1912 and gaining a nursing orderlies certificate (with a proficiency grading of Very Good) on 27th November, 1912. On his transfer to the reserve list he was given a glowing testimonial.
On mobilization John rejoined his unit at Wrexham on 5th August 1914 and just 5 days later, on the 10th, was in France as part of The British Expeditionary Force, “the old contemptibles” He remained in France until being invalided home after sustaining his ultimately fatal wound.
His resumed army career continued to be volatile and there are a number of entries in his records of periods of sickness and at least one instance of him being given 28 days of field punishment. However, his general excellent service saw him steadily promoted – to unpaid lance corporal on 1st December, 1914 –full lance corporal on 24th August, 1915 and eventually to full corporal on 18th June, 1916. Corporal Bennett was also posthumously awarded a Military Medal. (Gazetted – 11th October, 1916)
Tony Goulding 2020 ©
Location; Cheadle
Pictures; Memorial to Cpl John Bennet, Corporal Bennett’s medals, “Death Penny” given to John’s mother, courtesy of Tony Goulding, Withington hospital -1950, m53370, Withington workhouse sick ward, 1900 T. Morley- Brook, m08952, Aerial view of Withington Hospital 1925, m67685, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
NOTES
1) The 2nd Western General Hospital was centred on the old Withington Workhouse (later to become Withington Hospital) but also encompassed numerous other much smaller centres around greater Manchester.
Picture 6
m 67685 Aerial view of Withington Hospital 1925
Imperial Aerial Photo Company.
2) Herbert Bennett also enlisted (at Preston) into The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, joining the 8th battalion, but was attached to 24th battalion The Rifle Brigade.
On 10th October, 1918 Herbert died aged 33, of pneumonia whilst serving with 2nd Garrison Battalion, The Northumberland Fusiliers during operations in Iraq which was then part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.
He is buried in The War Cemetery in Basra, Iraq one of over 2,500 graves of First World War casualties. Herbert who worked as a bricklayer’s labourer left behind a widow, Mary Alice (née Lewis) and a young son Herbert born in the March quarter of 1913. The family home was at 4, Peak Street, off New Bridge Lane, Stockport.
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| John Bennett D.o.W. 1/9/1916 |
Intrigued, I decided to research these men with the view to telling all of their stories, however after starting out on this project I discovered so much detail about the first entry on the board that it provided a complete story of its own.
So I decided to initially only chronicle this story and shelve the remaining soldiers’ histories until a follow-up piece.
John was a corporal in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers when he died of wounds in the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester (1) on 1st September, 1916. He had been wounded by a gunshot wound in the thigh during the fighting near Givency, France on 6th July 1916.
 |
| “Death Penny” given to John’s mother |
His parents were John, a cotton spinner and his Worcester born wife Mary, and he had 3 siblings who survived to adulthood viz. two brothers, an older one, Herbert,(2) and William,(3) who was younger and also a sister,
Mary the youngest child. Both his brothers also died whilst on active service. (see notes for their records) The long term family residence was 30, Hanover Street, Portwood, Stockport. The young John Bennett began working as a spinner in a cotton mill but on 21st March, 1907 he enlisted at Cheadle into the 2nd battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, joining the colours for a seven year engagement.
After his initial training and a short spell in Ireland he spent five years in India before returning to England in time for his transfer to the Army reserve list in March 1914. Only a few months elapsed of that fateful year before, John was back in uniform in his old regiment and battalion following the general mobilization of the British Army on 5th August, 1914 at the outset of World War 1.
The army records of Corporal Bennett are both very extensive and revealing. They tell of a number of disciplinary issues involving drunken behaviour in his early military career both while stationed at Cork in Ireland and later during his first year in India.
These resulted in a number of field punishments loss of pay and on one occasion demotion in rank from lance corporal to private. After these initial problems, however, John appears to have adjusted well to army life and his last two years of service finding a happy niche as a hospital orderly at Quetta(4) in India.
He is recorded as attending two courses, as a stretcher bearer on 11th March, 1912 and gaining a nursing orderlies certificate (with a proficiency grading of Very Good) on 27th November, 1912. On his transfer to the reserve list he was given a glowing testimonial.
On mobilization John rejoined his unit at Wrexham on 5th August 1914 and just 5 days later, on the 10th, was in France as part of The British Expeditionary Force, “the old contemptibles” He remained in France until being invalided home after sustaining his ultimately fatal wound.
His resumed army career continued to be volatile and there are a number of entries in his records of periods of sickness and at least one instance of him being given 28 days of field punishment. However, his general excellent service saw him steadily promoted – to unpaid lance corporal on 1st December, 1914 –full lance corporal on 24th August, 1915 and eventually to full corporal on 18th June, 1916. Corporal Bennett was also posthumously awarded a Military Medal. (Gazetted – 11th October, 1916)
Tony Goulding 2020 ©
Location; Cheadle
Pictures; Memorial to Cpl John Bennet, Corporal Bennett’s medals, “Death Penny” given to John’s mother, courtesy of Tony Goulding, Withington hospital -1950, m53370, Withington workhouse sick ward, 1900 T. Morley- Brook, m08952, Aerial view of Withington Hospital 1925, m67685, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
 |
| Withington hospital, 1950 |
1) The 2nd Western General Hospital was centred on the old Withington Workhouse (later to become Withington Hospital) but also encompassed numerous other much smaller centres around greater Manchester.
Picture 6
m 67685 Aerial view of Withington Hospital 1925
Imperial Aerial Photo Company.
 |
| Withington workhouse sick ward 1900. |
On 10th October, 1918 Herbert died aged 33, of pneumonia whilst serving with 2nd Garrison Battalion, The Northumberland Fusiliers during operations in Iraq which was then part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.
He is buried in The War Cemetery in Basra, Iraq one of over 2,500 graves of First World War casualties. Herbert who worked as a bricklayer’s labourer left behind a widow, Mary Alice (née Lewis) and a young son Herbert born in the March quarter of 1913. The family home was at 4, Peak Street, off New Bridge Lane, Stockport.
 |
| Aerial view of Withington Hospital 1925 |
3)William Bennett died aged 25 in a Prisoner of War Camp in Germany while serving as a private in the 6th battalion the Cheshire Regiment. He is now interred in one of the Commonwealth War Graves plots in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg, Germany which is, incidentally, reputed to be the largest non military cemetery in the world.
4) Quetta is now the capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan but in the Edwardian era was a British outpost in the volatile region known as “The North-West Frontier” between British India and Afghanistan.
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