Name
Ralph Bentley
1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/01/1915
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4/6961
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RUE-DAVID MILITARY CEMETERY, FLEURBAIX
I. G. 28.
France
Headstone Inscription
ALWAYS IN OUR THOUGHTS
UK & Other Memorials
Stanstead Abbotts Village Memorial, Barkway Village Memorial, St Mary Magdalene Church Memorial, Barkway, Nuthampstead Plaque, St Mary Magdalene Church, Barkway
Pre War
Ralph Bentley was born in 1892 the son of Ralph and Rebecca Bentley, and one of twelve children although one died in infancy. He was baptised on 11 September 1892 in Barkway.
On the 1901 Census the family were living in High Street, Barkway, Royston, Herts, where his father was working as a labourer on a farm. They remained in Barkway in 1911 at which time Ralph was an unemployed groom.
The family later moved to Stanstead Abbotts and lived at 26 South Street.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment in September 1914, being posted to the 2nd Battalion. The Battalion were in South Africa at the outbreak of war and returned to England arriving on 19 September 1914. Once refitted for European warfare, they were sent to Belgium on 5 October. However, Ralph's medal card suggests he was not a serving soldier at the outbreak of war and states that he served in France and Belgium from 11 November 1914. He was probably one of 119 other ranks which joined the Battalion in the field on 12 November 1914.
By January 1915 Ralph's unit was in France near the village of Fleurbaix. He was killed in action on 15 January, aged 22, and is buried in Rue David Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, France.
At the time of Ralph’s death the Battalion was part of the 21st Brigade of the 7th Division.
Additional Information
His mother was awarded a pension of five shillings a week and his father received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £4 10s 7d.
Brother to Harry James Bentley who served as a Stoker in the Royal Navy and was killed in action on 22 November 1916. Two other brothers also served in the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Paul Johnson, Adrian Pitts, Terry Collins
