Benson MID , Hugh (H)

K.M. Jordan, Royal Durban Light Infantry WWII Roll of Honour ("working document", Aug 2026 draft; email to John & Bobby, 4 Sep 2026, marked "not 100% correct"): BENSON, Hugh “Pop” OBE, MID (Son of William Cole Benson & Marion Eliza (nee Johnson) Benson – both deceased; husband of Mary H. Benson, of Edinburgh, Scotland.) (St Paul’s Primary School, Kent.) 1864 Corporal Royal Durban Light Infantry Born Farningham, Kent, England 29/7/1882; served in the ABW 1899 - 1902; served with the Natal Police in the Bambatha Rebellion 1906. He served with the Natal Carbineers in GSWA 1914 – 1915 and in Royal Horse Artillery in WWI. A farmer in Underberg, Natal before enlistment. He served with the 1st Battalion RDLI in North Africa; taken prisoner at Tobruk 1942; died of lung inflammation, at Stalag 4B, whilst a POW in Germany. Berlin 1939 – 1945 War Cemetery, Berlin, Germany. (Initially buried in Neuburzdorf cemetery.) (Also, on the Royal Durban Light Infantry & the MOTH Garden of Remembrance, Underberg, KZN WWII Memorials.) Not on Durban Cenotaph WWII Memorial. 12/071944 L4F7-9XC 62
K.M. Jordan, Royal Durban Light Infantry WWII Roll of Honour ("working document", Aug 2026 draft; email to John & Bobby, 4 Sep 2026) -- notable-veterans page: born Farningham, Kent, England 29/7/1882; served as farrier sergeant (#555) with the Natal Carbineers and later Lovat's Scouts in the Boer War (present at the Siege of Ladysmith); served with the Natal Police in the 1906 Bambatha Rebellion; served with the Natal Carbineers in German South-West Africa 1914-15 and later as a Captain in the Royal Horse Artillery in WWI; a farmer in Underberg, Natal before WWII. Volunteered for WWII but was rejected for being too old, so changed his recorded DOB to 29/7/1895 (13 years younger) to be accepted; taken prisoner at Tobruk 1942; died of lung inflammation as a POW at Stalag 4B, Muhlberg, Germany. His German captors reportedly gave him a 12-gun salute at his funeral. OBE (London Gazette 3 Jun 1919, p.6796) and Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 23 Dec 1918, p.15030).