4th Siege company, Royal Engineers (Royal Monmouthshire)
Harry Benfield was born in Coleford in 1892, son of George Benfield (1859-1930), a stone mason, and Catherine Benfield (formerly Price) (1861-1922). The family lived in Victoria Road, Coleford.
Harry Benfield attested for the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers on 4 January 1915 at Monmouth and given the service number 7396. He gave his occupation as ‘banker mason’, which indicated he worked in a workshop carving and dressing stone for architectural building features. He was unmarried. After he was discharged from the Army, due to wounds received in action, he became a commercial clerk.
Sapper Harry Benfield landed in France on 18 May 1915. He was wounded at St Eloi on 31 May 1915, suffering shrapnel wounds to his left knee and was sent to No 26 General Hospital, Etaples where he remained until 12 June 1916. From there he was invalided to the UK to the Edinburgh War Hospital where he was treated until 24 April 1917. He was discharged as being physically unfit for further service due to wounds on 1 September 1917, aged 24 years. He was issued with a Silver War Badge and was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal.
Harry Benfield died on 20 February 1919, aged 26 years, and was buried at Coleford Town Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave.
Researched by Eric Nicholls 4 October 2019