2nd Lieutenant J. A. Benham
Royal Engineers
158201
Died of illness, 6 October 1941, Iran. Aged 22.
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Jack Armstrong Benham was born in Chobham in 1919, the eldest of three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Benham of Coppice Wood. Ernest was a member of the well known firm of Messrs. F. W. Benham and Sons, owners of the Chobham Town Mill and a district and parish councillor.
Jack attended Chobham C of E School before passing to Woking Grammar School in 1929 where he matriculated and gained his higher school certificate and inter-B.Sc.
He left the Grammar school in 1937 and worked for a time in London as a trainee Quantity Surveyor with the firm of Widnell and Trollope, a company that still exists today. He was also Hon. Secretary of Chobham Agricultural Association.
Jack joined the Royal Engineers as a territorial before the war and was called up for service on 25 August 1939. He rose to the rank of Sergeant before being sent to 142nd Officer Cadet Training Unit based at Aldershot. He received his commission on 23 November 1940.
In the first week of January 1941 Jack went out east and was attached to the Indian Army.
On 6 August 1941 Mr. and Mrs. Benham received their last letter from their son. On Sunday 12 October they received the dreaded telegram informing them that Jack had died of pneumonia the previous Wednesday (6 October). He was 22 years old.
Jack Benham is buried in Tehran War Cemetery, Iran (grave 6.B.9). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking.
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Last updated 27 August 2011
Sources
1911 UK Census
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
London Gazette
Woking County School magazine
Woking News and Mail
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