8467 Pte James Hiram Bentham, 1st Bn, Somerset Light Infantry

8467 Private James Hiram Bentham of the 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry was killed in action on this day - 17th September - in 1914.

James Bentham was a career soldier who had joined the Somerset Light Infantry in 1907. He was probably just approaching the end of his seven years with the Colours when Britain went to war, and by the 21st August he was in France. His medal index card indicates that a clasp was sent for his 1914 Star at some point after 20th October 1921.

James Bentham is buried in Vauxbuin French National Cemetery (grave ref: III.F.9). This from the Commonwealth war Grave Commission:

"The village was passed by British troops on the 31st August, 1914, in the Retreat from Mons; and British troops fought in the neighbourhood in 1918. The French National Cemetery was made by the French Graves Service in 1920-1924. The British plot, made after the Armistice, contains the graves of soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1914 and 1918 and belonged to the 4th, 5th, 15th (Scottish) and 34th Divisions."

James was not a native of Somerset. Soldiers Died in The Great War indicates that he was born in Wood Green, Middlesex and enlisted there [in 1907].

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission