King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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Private John William Benham

From Mrs Tinker, daughter:
A history of my father, John William Benham, known as ‘Jack’
Born 1 Oct 1888
His father was an alcoholic who worked as a navvy on the roads. He drank his wages so Dad had to skip school and find work to help feed the family. One job I remember was working for an Italian ice cream seller. The ingredients were put in a churn which was put in a container packed with ice. The churn had to be continuously turned until the contents were frozen, which was very hard work. There were other jobs, but being a child it was one that stuck in my mind.
His mother received frequent beatings from his father. Later he was to think he was the perfect husband as he did not beat my mother as often. His mother died on Christmas Eve 1902 of cancer aged 42 years when he was 14 years. On the day of the funeral he found his father in bed with the women who lived upstairs. He smashed his father over the head with a chair and ran. He lived with various relatives and was working with horse and carts until he joined the King’s Own. As a lad he had joined the Band of Hope a temperance organisation.
Dad was very proud of being in the King’s Own and thought it the best thing he had ever done. It educated him, taught him boxing, diving and knitting. When I was a child I saw a white sweater he had made all in one piece using about a dozen knitting needles. This was made when he was in India. Teaching him boxing was not a good idea considering his quick temper, but he taught me, his only child, a girl, to box and it came in very handy in the 1940s on two occasions when I was attacked when walking home late at night.
Since our telephone conversation in which you told me that Dad had survived incidents in which the vast majority were either injured, captured or killed, I have been thinking and I believe that if you are brought up by a violent parent it makes you very aware of potential danger and quick to take evasive action. This may well have enabled him to escape danger as much as having good luck.
He told me he was on the retreat from Mons and wore the Mons Star on this medal ribbons and also he was at Ypres. He said that at the end of the war he was on remand awaiting Court Martial for hitting an officer but his demob papers came through before this happened. My mother said that throughout his army career , every time he got promoted he was soon demoted for violent offences (not against the Germans).
Once out of the army he got work with the Southern Railway and was doing very well until he was in a near fatal traffic accident, suffering severe brain damage. Because of the severe memory loss he was given a job called ‘outside porter’. A uniform was provided but no pay and he was only allowed to assist passengers arriving at Victoria Station from outside and assist them in the hope of a tip. He was not allowed to meet passengers on incoming trains. He received no pay until the railways were nationalised after the war. He retired aged 66 and spent his first years on the Isle of Sheppey tending his chickens. After his accident he was told he could die at any time of a cerebral haemorrhage which he did aged 80, 38 years later.

Mounted carved bone knife, fork and spoon, biscuit made by the Hindu Biscuit Company, Delhi and photograph of Private John William Benham of the King’s Own and two other soldiers.
Mounted and framed, but the frame was damaged in the Second World War when the house they lived in with hit in the blitz, lived at 13 Malpas Road, SE4. Glass and frame disposed of, leaving only the mount and items. The knife is damaged being in three parts. The biscuit is cracked, probably only through age.
Accession Number: KO2789/01

The Biscuit.
Accession Number: KO2789/01b

Private William Benham, pictured right, of the 1st Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.  Private Benham served through out the First World War, at first with the King's Own and later with the Machine Gun Corps.
Accession Number: KO2789/01c

Cooking Staff, 1st Battalion, The King’s Own Regiment, Lucknow, 1910. Including Sergeant H Hewson.
Accession Number: KO2789/02

1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, on parade, India, circa 1909-1911
Accession Number: KO2789/03

1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, soldiers alongside a wooden bridge they had just constructed. India circa 1909-11
Accession Number: KO2789/04

1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, soldiers alongside a wooden bridge they had just constructed. India circa 1909-11
Accession Number: KO2789/05

Unknown building, probably in Lucknow, India, circa 1909-11
Accession Number: KO2789/06

Elhi Fort, India, circa 1909-1911
Accession Number: KO2789/07

Indian Palace, possibly Lucknow, circa 1909-1911
Accession Number: KO2789/08

The Memorial Church, Cawnpore. Memorial to the Mutiny of 1857.
Accession Number: KO2789/09

Kaiser Bagh, Lucknow, India, circa 1909-1911
Accession Number: KO2789/10

HMTS Dongola
His Majesty’s Troopship Dongola
HMT Dongola was built for the P & O Shipping Company by Barclay Curle and Coy. at Glasgow. She was launched on 14 Sep 1905 and saw served with the P & O Company and then from 1906 she was taken up for seasonal trooping by the War Office between the UK and the East, including India and Hong Kong. In 1915 she was requisitioned and used as a hospital ship at Gallipoli. She was sold for scrapping to T W Ward Ltd of Barrow in Furness in Jun 1926.
Accession Number: KO2789/11

Winners of the Six-A-Side Football competition, ‘E Company’ 1st Battalion King’s Own. India circa 1909-1911
Accession Number: KO2789/12

E Company Football Team, 1st King’s Own, 1911. Winners of the 2nd Eleven, 1906-7, 1907-8 and 1911
Accession Number: KO2789/13

Number 1 Section, D Company, 1st Battalion King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment in Lucknow, 1912.
Accession Number: KO2789/14

Members of the Old Contemptible Association, including on the left John William Benham of the 1st Battalion King’s Own.
Accession Number: KO2789/15

Silk postcard send to Jack Benham, dated 16 Jun 1915. Number 9574, 1st Battalion King’s Own.
Accession Number: KO2789/16

Silk postcard sent to Jack Benham, dated 20 Dec 1916 – ‘A Happy Christmas’
Accession Number: KO2789/17

Attestation Paper for John William Benham, 6 Jan 1908.
Accession Number: KO2789/18

 
An Act of Solemn Worship of Almighty God appointed for use at the State Service of the Coronation Durbar, 10 Dec 1911. Lucknow.
Accession Number: KO2789/19

 
Fifth Army – A form of service for the Fourth of August 1918, being the Fourth Anniversary of the Declaration of War.
Accession Number: KO2789/20

Certificate presented to 18752 Private John William Benham, Machine Gun Corps, previously 1st King’s Own.
Accession Number: KO2789/21

Old Contemptibles’ Association Certificate to John W Benham of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO2789/22

Menu for the First Annual Dinner of the Old Contemptible Association (Southern Railway Branch), Jun 1930
Accession Number: KO2789/23

Old Contemptibles’ Association Annual Cenotaph Parade 9 Sep 1934
Accession Number: KO2789/24

The Old Contemptible Number 38, Feb 1937
Accession Number: KO2789/25

Old Contemptibles’ Association Annual Cenotaph Parade, 17 Aug 1930
Accession Number: KO2789/26

Old Contemptibles’ Association Annual Drumhead Service and Rally, 21 Jun 1936, Brighton.
Accession Number: KO2789/27

Old Contemptibles’ Association (Southern Railway Branch) First Annual Dinner, 20 Jun 1930. John W Benham was an employee of the Southern Railway after he left the army.
Accession Number: KO2789/28

Old Contemptible Association Dinner – with John William Benham and his wife seated fourth row from the left third and fourth person down the table from the left.
Accession Number: KO2789/29

Holy Bible Marked Official Copy
Issued to Private John William Benham, number 9574, 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, prior to the First World War.
Accession Number: KO2789/30

Silk handkerchief holder with ‘Souvenir from France’ on one side.
Accession Number: KO2789/31

Silk handkerchief ‘Souvenir de France’ sent home by Private John William Benham of the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, First World War.
Accession Number: KO2789/32

Silk handkerchief ‘To my dear sister’ sent home by Private John William Benham of the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, First World War.
Accession Number: KO2789/33

© Images are copyright, Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum.
 You must seek permission prior to publication of any of our images.