Douglas Kirkpatrick Benham
This name is on the Old Manorians memorial, Clapham
(Douglas Kirkpatrick Benham)
Private, Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment), 16th Battalion
Service no. 28958
Died of heart failure at West Down South Camp, Salisbury Plain on 16 November 1914, aged 34
Son of John and Mary Sophia Benham. Born at Clapham, London, England.
Buried at Orcheston St. Mary Churchyard, Wiltshire, UK
Douglas was resident in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, after arriving in Canada on 4 May 1912, on the ship Laurentic.
Probate
Left £4750 0s 2d to Stanley John Benham, gentleman.
Military history
Attestation papers (23 September 1914)
Born 14 August 1880
Trade "gentleman"
Next of kin: L. A. Benham
6ft tall, chest 38in + 3½, dark complexion, hazel eyes, dark hair; "2 moles on right buttock, lots of hair on chest"
Church of England
Anne Gretton, Douglas Kirkpatrick Benham's great-niece, writes:
Douglas Kirkpatrick Benham was born about Aug 1880, sixth and youngest child of John Benham, manufacturing ironmonger of Benham & Sons, Wigmore Street, London W1, and Mary Sophia nee Davis. The family lived at Lymington House, Loats Road, Clapham. They were a non-conformist family who were very involved with the Baptist Chapel in Bloomsbury but later worshipped in the Congregational Church in Clapham.
DKB probably followed his two brothers as a boarder to University College School, Hastings. He was still living at home in the 1901 Census, described as an articled account clerk. We heard stories of him throwing all his letters overboard while crossing the Atlantic! In the 1911 Census, I have found him in Vancouver lodging with a family. He must have joined the Canadian Army shortly after that.
I was told that he was the black sheep of the family as he appears to have drifted and not matched up to his clever, cultured and high-achieving siblings. I only found his death and military records recently through Ancestry on line. I have one photo of him in a family group photo in 1890 on the steps of Lymington House, probably his parents' silver wedding. He looked rather a sweet little boy of 10.