Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Benett-Dampier, Cheshire Regiment, late Imperial Yeomanry

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Capt. W. H. Bennett, Imp. Yeo.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Lt. Col. W. H. Benett-Dampier) the second officially re-impressed, note different surname, good very fine (2) £350-450

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Boer War Medals.

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Ex B.D.W. 10 October 1995.

William Henry Bennett was born on 10 January 1869 to the Rev. John William Bennett, Vicar of St. Paul’s, Hampstead. Educated at Merchant Taylor’s School, 1878-84. Accompanied the New South Wales Branch of the Royal Geographical Society’s Expedition to New Guinea in 1887. Visited Constantinople in 1896 and awarded the Order of Medjidie 3rd Class, 1896. Accompanied Turkish troops in the Græco-Turkish War, 1897 and was with the U.S. Army in Cuba 1897-98. Prior to the Boer War he was ranked as a Captain in the 3rd Middlesex Volunteer Artillery. During the Boer War served in the Imperial Yeomanry, the Intelligence Department and the Pietersburg Light Horse, recieving the Queen’s medal with three clasps and the King’s medal with two. Commissioned a Captain in the 3rd Battalion Cheshire Regiment in 1904. In 1907 awarded the Order of Osmanieh 2nd Class and Order of Medjidie 2nd Class. In the same year he assumed the name of ‘Benett-Dampier’ in lieu of ‘Bennett’.

During the Great War he served as a recruiting officer for the Cheshire Regiment. In November 1914 he was promoted to Temporary Major in the 12th Battalion Cheshire Regiment and in December 1914 was advanced to Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the 14th Battalion. Transferring back to the 12th Battalion in February 1915 he returned to recruiting duties. Benet-Dampier relinquished his temporary rank in September 1916, reverting to the rank of Captain in the Reserve of Officers but was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Reserve of Officers in November 1917. He ceased to belong to the Reserve in September 1918 due to the age limit. Benett-Dampier died at Eversley, Hampshire on 8 November 1930. With copied research.