Booth, Benjamin

Benjamin was born in Stowmarket, Suffolk in the first quarter of 1876, the eldest son of James Robert and Emma Harriet (nee Cole) Booth.   He was a pupil at the Merchant Taylors School in Ashwell.

Benjamin first joined the 1^st Hertfordshire Volunteers and enlisted with the Norfolk Regiment on 13 June 1894.  He was immediately transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment, Regimental Number 4964, and was appointed Lance Corporal in November 1898.  In 1902 the regiment was in the Khyber region of Pakistan, in 1910 they were in Burma and in 1912 they were in India.

In March 1904 Benjamin transferred to the Royal Irish Rifles, Regimental Number 7473.  In 1911 he was appointed Orderly Room Sergeant.

In 1914, at the start of WWI the Royal Irish Rifles were stationed in Aden, Yemen but were shipped back to England and deployed with the Expeditionary Force to the front in France.

 In 1915 Benjamin was with the 3^rd Echelon Mediterranean Expeditionary Force which was the part of the British Army that commanded all Allied troops in Gallipoli and Salonika. On 1 January 1917 he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM).  On 1 May 1917 he is listed as Quarter Master Sergeant. On 2 May 1917 he was promoted to temporary Superintendent Clerk, Warrant Officer Class 1.  In 1918 he was Quarter Master and Honorary 1^st Lieutenant with the General List.  He was discharged in 1920.  During the War Benjamin served in the Balkan Theatre of War, Gallipoli. He survived the War.

Benjamin was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the Oak Leaf (for being mentioned in dispatches), 1914 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal.

He is commemorated on the St Mary’s Church Ashwell Roll of Honour.

The 1881 census shows the family living in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire.

Benjamin married Emily Canfield in Royston, Hertfordshire.  Emily lived in Ashwell as shown on the 1881 and 1891 census.

Emily went with Benjamin and the Regiment to Burma and India.

Benjamin and Emily had three children, Iris Elizabeth who was born in Burma on 11 September 1910 but who died in infancy, John Arthur who was born in India on 10 November 1912 but who also died in infancy, and Kathleen Margaret, born in Ashwell, Hertfordshire on 7 October 1912.

Benjamin died in December 1935.

Royston Crow 5 July 1907  Marriage at Royston, Benjamin EA Booth, Sgt Royal Irish Rifles, of Royston to Emily Canfield, 3^rd daughter of late William Canfield, Ashwell.