Bennett, James
Private
No. 18099, 11th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916
Buried:
Connaught Cemetery, France (Grave I. A. 20)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that James Bennett (No. 18099) was born in Ballygowan and enlisted in Belfast.
Private James Bennett served with the 11th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and he was killed in action with 109th Brigade in the 36th (Ulster) Division on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
On 29 December 1913 Private James Bennett (No. 18099) made his will and in it he left the whole of his property to his wife, Lizzie Bennett, who then lived in Central Street, Ballymacarrett, Belfast.
In pension records his legatee is named as Mrs Elizabeth Craig, 7 Clermont Lane, Woodstock Road, Belfast. Under ‘relationship to soldier’ she is described as his ‘unmarried wife’. Further details recorded are ‘legal wife, separated, one child; unmarried wife, three children’. Although not confirmed definitively, there is evidence to suggest that these three children may not have been his.
Private James Bennett (No. 18099) was buried in Connaught Cemetery, France and he is commemorated in the Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour.