The Collection of Medals to the Cheshire and Manchester Regiments, Rifle Brigade and Royal Green Jackets formed by the late David Boniface

Pair: attributed 2nd Lieutenant C. A. Bennett, Rifle Brigade, who was taken P.O.W. in the “German Spring Offensive”

British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut.), very fine or better (2) £60-80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Cheshire and Manchester Regiments, Rifle Brigade and Royal Green Jackets formed by the late David Boniface.

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Charles Alan Bennett, who was born in Caterham, Surrey in May 1877 and educated at Winchester College, was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn in 1899. He served in the 16th Battalion, Rifle Brigade in France from September 1917 and was reported missing after an action on 27 March 1918 - but was subsequently confirmed as having been taken P.O.W.

Bennett returned to the legal profession after the War, was appointed a High Court Judge in 1929, in which year he was knighted, and remained similarly employed until his death in December 1943. He had earlier stood as a Liberal candidate in South Oxfordshire in the General Election of 1924, but was defeated (see his obituary in The Rifle Brigade Chronicle, 1943, for further details); a search of MIC entries for recipients with similar rank, initials and surname reveals no other possible candidate.