Orders, Decorations and Medals

Four: Rev. Frederick Wilmot Bennitt, who led the R.A.O.B. Memorial Service at Cardington for the dead of airship ‘R.101’

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, South Africa 1902 (Rev. F. W. Bennitt) with silver brooch bar; R.A.O.B. Jewel, silver-gilt and enamel, hallmarks for Birmingham 1932, reverse inscribed, ‘Presented to Bro. The Rev. Frederick Bennitt CP by the Swan Lodge No.6397 Certified on the 21 June 1933’, with brooch bar, inscribed, ‘Swan Lodge No.6397’; Prize Medallions (2), 57mm., silver, obverse: presentation of a charter to the king, in exergue, ‘Edwardvs Rex Lib. Schol. Brimicham Fvndator A.D. MDLII’, reverse: inscribed, in raised letters, ‘Studio Fallente Laborem, Praemium in Gymnasio Meritum’, engraved, ‘F. W. Bennitt 1891’; another, engraved, ‘F. W. Bennitt 1892’, good very fine (4) £500-550

Frerick Wilmot Bennitt was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and gained a B.A. in 1895 and M.A. in 1899. He was ordained a Deacon in 1896 and a Priest in 1897 at Rochester, Kent. He was Curate of St. Margaret’s, Plumstead, 1896-98 and then of Rugby, 1898-1901 and 1902-03. During the Boer War he served as an Acting Chaplain to the Forces, 1901-02. The Rev. Bennitt was then Curate of Hagbourne, 1903-05 and of Buxton, 1905-06. He then served as Rector of Bletchley, 1906-34 but served in the R.A.M.C. during 1918-19. Bennitt was appointed the Rural Dean of Bletchley, 1923-34, after which he was Vicar of East Peckham, 1934-42 and Curate of Sunninghill, 1943-45.

The R.101 was a British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. The airship crashed on 5 October 1930 in France on its maiden overseas flight. The R.101 departed its shed at Cardington, Bedfordshire, on 4 October, for a flight to Karachi, British India, with an intended fuel stop at Ismailia, Egypt. However, when travelling at a low altitude in poor weather over France the next day, the R.101 hit the ground near the Beauvais Ridge and burst into flames - 46 of the 54 passengers and crew were killed immediately and 2 others died later in hospital. The loss of 48 dead surpassed that of the Hindenburg disaster of 1937. The tragic loss of the R.101 effectively ended British involvement with rigid airships.

A special memorial to the dead of the R.101 was held by the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes in the airship’s shed at Cardington on Sunday 16 November 1930. The memorial service, led by the Rev. Frederick Bennitt, was attended by some 7,000 R.A.O.B. members, in remembrance of the many victims of the disaster who were members of the Order.

With original newspaper cuttings relating to the Memorial Service, including one with a picture of Rev. Bennitt officiating at the service. Also with copied research.