BENNETT, Charles Tudor

Tudor Bennett lived at 'The Mount', Red Hill, Stourbridge, and was the son of Charles and Nellie Bennett. He attended Dudley Grammar School and was commissioned in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, By 1916 he was a Captain in the 3rd Battalion, attached to the 1st. This battalion was in the 5th Division and had seen action in 1914 in the retreat from Mons, the battle of the Aisne and at First Ypres. In 1915 it was involved in Second Ypres and on the 16th July 1916 they arrived on the Somme to take part in the next phase of that battle. They moved to the front line which ran from High Wood to Delville Wood at Longueval. A Corps attack was planned for an attack on the 22 July with the West Kents leading their Brigade. After a bombardment the attack was launched in the face of a stream of lead from well placed machine guns. The troops suffered heavy casualties and were forced back to their starting line. Among those killed in action was Captain Charles Tudor Bennett. He had led his men to the German lines but was posted as missing. Official confirmation that he was presumed dead did not reach his family until nearly a year later. He was 23 years of age and is commemorated on the Thiepval, Stourbridge and Dudley Grammar School Memorials.