17656 Private George Edwin BENNETT was born 8th June 1877 in Campden and was the second son of Henry and Ann BENNETT of Watery Lane. His father was a native of the town and in the early 1900's was trading as a baker selling bread in the Square.
After leaving school George worked on the railways. When the war started in 1914 he enlisted at Camden into the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was posted to the 8th Battalion and arrived in France on 18th August 1915.
The battalion took part in the Battle of the Somme, which started on 1st July 1916. At 7.30 am on that morning they moved to positions north of Albert and were in the Tara-Usna line by 10.00 am. The British Army suffered almost 60,000 casualties on the opening day of the battle but the 8th Glosters did not attack until 3rd July, when they pushed forward into La Boisselle village and consolidated their new positions near the ruins of the church. In this action their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel A. Carton de Wiart, won the Victoria Cross. The battalion held the new positions against German counter-attacks before it withdrew to Albert on 5th July. On 9th July it moved to bivouacs north of Millencourt and the next few days were spent doing physical drill including route marches, bayonet practice and running.
At 9.00 pm on 20th July they moved forward again to occupy an old German trench close to Bazentin-le-Petit. The battalion relieved the 10th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment in the front line at 9.30 pm on 22nd July and the following day they were involved in an unsuccessful attack on the German Switch Line between High Wood and Martinpuich. The battalion attacked at 12.30 am after creeping forward to within 75 yards of the German trenches but they were soon halted by machine gun fire.
It was during this attack on the Switch Line on 23rd July that George was killed in action and he is buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery near Longueval, Somme.
Memorials: St James Church, the Baptist Church and in the High Street, Chipping Camden.
L'est we forget
