Name
Benjamin Grant Briggs
1880
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/03/1915
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Company Quartermaster Serjeant
5518
Royal Scots Fusiliers
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ESTAIRES COMMUNAL CEMETERY AND EXTENSION
III. A. 1.
France
Headstone Inscription
None, but Mrs H B Keen, 14 West View Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts is named in association with his headstone. [his sister]
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Leverstock Green National School Memorial
Pre War
Benjamin Grant Briggs (known as Ben) was born in Louth, Lincs in 1880, the son of Benjamin and Gertrude Briggs and one of seven children, two of whom died in infancy.
On the 1881 Census he was living with his family at Calcethorpe Manor, Lincs where his father was an auctioneer and valuer. They had moved to St Mark's Street, Peterborough in 1891 when his father was listed as having "no occupation". They moved again in 1892 when they came to Boxmoor, Herts and his father worked as a Company Secretary for the Limmat Company and later as an accountant with a firm of auctioneers.
He attended Leverstock Green school from 6 October 1891 to 14 November 1893 and in 1895 was said to be living at 16 Horse Croft Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead when he enlisted with the army.
On the 1911 Census his parents and younger brother Harry were living at 43 Horse Croft Road, Boxmoor.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in London on 18 December 1895 and initially signed up with the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, later transferring to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers with whom he served in the Boer War. He was entitled to the South Africa Medal with clasps for 1901, 1902, Cape Colony, Transvaal, Orange Free State, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith,& Laings Nek. At some point he was promoted to Sergeant and later to Acting Company Quartermaster Sergeant in 1913.
At the outbreak of war he went to Belgium with the 2nd Battalion, landing in Zeebrugge in October 1914,and saw action in the Battle of Ypres.
The following year, the Battalion took part in the Battle of Neuve Chappelle which began on 10th March. Ben was wounded during the battle and died of his wounds on 12 March 1915. He is buried at Estaires Communal Cemetery and Extension, France, which was a Field Ambulance centre.
Additional Information
His father received pay owing of £37 18s 7d and his brother Harry received the war gratuity of £10.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Barbara Chapman, www.hemelheroes.com
