Last one of five brothers killed 2/8th Bn Thomas Bench

[tharkin56]

Thomas Bench Private 2/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Born 27th June 1880 at Warwick; resided at Warwick ( home in Coventry); House decorator; Enlisted in 1917; Killed in action France 15th November 1917; Buried in Browns Copse Cemetery, Roeux.

Thomas was the son of Eliza bench she had six sons and Thomas was the fifth one to die. the remaining brother enlisted in October 1918 and survived. As Eliza lost five sons the council invited her to attend the war memorila park opening standing with Cpl Arthur Hutt VC.

Any information gratefully received would the Battalion Officers have known he had lost four brothers. one thing just occurred to me was any communication send to brothers on the death of family members or did they have to receive communication from home

[Mike Jones]

Hello Trevor,
I had an enjoyable hour in your website, well done. It has obviously been a lot of work. What got you started on it? I have spent about 4 hours looking up Thomas. He joined the Hampshires first and after his training he was drafted, with about 63 other men into the 2/8th Bn. Worcesters. All of these men trained together, so Thomas was with friends when he joined us. He came to us about August 1917, sadly he was not to live very much longer. At least one in five of Thomas's draft were to die before the war ended. I noticed from your website that none of the Bench Boys have got a plaque in the Memorial Park. This must have saddened Mrs. Bench. Can this be rectified now? I know it is a long time after the event but such a loss should be noted.
Regards Mike

[tharkin56]

i got started on the park as I remembered one of the plaque names when I was in it with the children, i looked the guy up on CWGC and then researched the rest. I know have over hundered and twenty pictures of the 264 men. The plaques had to be paid as Mrs Bench could not afford the plaques the brothers didn't get one they cost 25 s each. The park got £4.2 million lottery money and i will be campaigning for a plaque