Pte 26178 Sam Benion

• Age: 19
• From: Warrington, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Sam Benion was born on 03rd March 1897 in Warrington. His birth was registered as Sam and he was baptised simply as Sam in St. Elphin's Church, Warrington on the 21st March 1897. He was the son of Joseph Benion and his wife Georgina (nee Tilling) who were married in 1888 also at St. Elphin's Church. Sam had older siblings Robert Bentley (born in 1888), Joseph (1891), and Eliza (1893), and younger siblings Georgina (1898) and Walter (1900).

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 12 Napier Street Warrington. Joseph Benion is aged 35, his occupation is Wire Drawer, both he and his wife Georgina Benion, were born in Warrington. They have six children all of whom were born in Warrington. Robert B is aged 11, Joseph, aged 10, Eliza aged 8, Sam aged 4, Georgina aged 2 and 1 year old Walter.

In 1901 Sam was attending Ellesmere Street Parochial Infants' School, Warrington. In 1910 he won the annual Warrington Municipal Schools prize for science

The 1911 Census shows the family living at of 268 Lovely Lane, Warrington. His father, Joseph, is aged 45 is still working as a wire drawer, his mother Georgina is 47. All six children are still living at home with their parents – Robert, aged 21, is working as a wire drawer like his father, Joseph, aged 20, is a clerk in the municipal education department, Eliza aged 18 is a shop assistant in a drapers, and Sam 14, Georgina 12, and Walter 11 are all at school.

Sam enlisted in Prescot, Knowsley in April 1915 joining the 17th Battalion (D Company), The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 26178. The Army likely assumed Sam was a diminutive name, as all his military records show him as Samuel.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He arrived in France on 07th November 1915, disembarking with his battalion at Boulogne.

Sam was killed in action on the 30th July 1916, aged 19, at the village of Guillemont, France during the Somme Offensive.

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July.  

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

His death was reported in the Runcorn Examiner on 20th October 1916 under the headline ‘Private S. Benion Secondary School “Old Boy” Killed In Action:’

‘Missing since July, Private Sam Benion of the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, is now officially reported to have met his death on that date. News to this effect reached his parents Mr and Mrs Jos. Benion at 268 Lovely Lane on Tuesday. Private Benion, who was nineteen years of age, enlisted in April 1915, and went to the Front in November. He was formerly employed by the Board of Trade in Liverpool. He received his education at the Heathside Secondary School. His brother Joseph, of the same regiment, enlisted a month after the outbreak of war, and has served alongside his brother. When Sam was reported missing Joseph made several special journeys up the line, only to find that he could obtain no trace of him’

Sam's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01^st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

He earned his three medals.

His father received Sam's outstanding Army pay and a War Gratuity of £4-10.

An In Memoriam notice was placed in the local press for his 21st Birthday in March 1918:

BENION - In loving 21st birthday remembrance (3rd March) of our dear son and brother, Private S. Benion King's Liverpool Regiment ("Pals") killed inaction at Guillemont, France 30th July 1916 

His brother, Joseph, was also a Pal. He enlisted on 02nd September 1914 as Private 16352 in the 18th Bn K.L.R. and shipped to France on the same day as Sam.  He was promoted Lance Corporal. Joseph was wounded in the right arm so seriously on the 29th April 1918 that his arm had to be amputated. When Joseph was married later that year in September, he gave his bride his silver badge, which was presented to the original Pals by Lord Derby, to wear on their wedding day. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal "in recognition of valuable service rendered with the Forces in France." He was discharged in March 1919 and returned to his job with the local education office.

Youngest brother Walter enlisted when he was 17 in January 1918 in the R.N.V.R. Mersey Division. He served in home establishments and was demobbed in February 1919.

In November 1920 Sam’s name was one of 38 men of the Parish who fell in the War on a new triptych in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Warrington.

His family continued to publish memorials to him in the newspaper in the following years.

Sam is also commemorated on the following Memorials:

Warrington Secondary School War Memorial, now located at the entrance to the Borough Treasury, Palmyra Square South, Warrington

Board of Trade - Mercantile Marine Survey Staff War Memorial

Heathside School Memorial (now in private hands) 

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF THE 

 OLD BOYS OF THIS SCHOOL WHO MADE 

 THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN THE GREAT WAR 

 1914-1918 

 Dedicated at the School on the 4th October 1924 

In 1939 his parents were still at 268 Lovely Lane. Joseph was 74 and retired, Georgina was 75.

His mother, Georgina died in 1946, aged 82, and his father Joseph in 1953 at the age of 87.

Apart from his brother Robert, who died at 61, all of Sam's siblings lived into their 80s and 90s.

We currently have no further information on Samuel Benion, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.