Studio portrait of 2579 Corporal (Cpl) Leslie John Willis Benjamin, brass moulder, of North ...

Accession Number P03318.001
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Film copy negative
Maker Fairweather, Francis Edward
Place made United Kingdom: Scotland
Date made c 1916
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Studio portrait of 2579 Corporal (Cpl) Leslie John Willis Benjamin, brass moulder, of North Melbourne, Victoria. He enlisted in the 22nd Battalion on 16 July 1915 and embarked on HMAT Ulysses on 27 October 1915 for Egypt. On 24 February 1916 he was transferred as a Lance Corporal to the 7th Battalion which sailed for France and the Western Front a month later. He was promoted Cpl on 27 September 1917. Cpl Benjamin was wounded in action in Belgium on 4 October 1917 and admitted to hospital. After treatment and convalescence he rejoined his unit on 12 November 1917. He proceeded to England for leave and training on 25 January 1918 before rejoining the 7th Battalion on 23 May 1918. Cpl Benjamin was wounded in action on 9 August 1918 and died of wounds, at the 20th Casualty Clearing Station on 16 August 1918, aged 21 years. He is buried at Vignacourt British Cemetery, France.