Stanley Benskin HENSON (1)

Stanley Benskin HENSON. 2nd Lieutenant, 1st Somerset Light Infantry.

Born 17 June 1888 to Dr. William John Henson, of 1, Albemarle Street, London, W.1. and Minnie Henson, of Elmsett Hall, Wedmore, Cheddar, Somerset. 1901 residing with his parents and siblings at 20 Benlah Hill, Croydon. His father was a chemist and medical student.

Educated at King’s School, Bruton, Somerset and Pembroke College, Oxford and obtained a commission in the Colonial Police in 1909 and was stationed at Singapore and Penang. He joined the Special Reserve of Officers on the Somerset Light Infantry 17 September 1913 and failing to obtain leave from the Straits Authorities, resigned his post there, came home to England at his own expense and obtained commission in the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry in October 1914, went to France in November and was killed in action in an attack on the German trenches at Ploegsteert 19 December 1914. In this attack, made over 200 yards of open ground, he (in the words of his Commanding Officer) exhibited such dashing bravery that outstripped his company by a full 20 yards, but fell with a bullet through his heart. Buried in Ploegsteert Wood. He was aged 22.

Wills and Admin, Ancestry -

Stanley Benskin Henson. Of Wedmore, Somersetshire, 2nd Lieutenant, Somerset Light Infantry died 19 December 1914 in Belgium. Administration London 1915 to William John Henson, physician. £170

At rest in Ploegsteert Wood Military Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium