Lance Corporal Frederick John Bending’s birth was recorded in the 2nd quarter of 1894 in Lewisham. He was the son of Joseph Ezekiel Bending (1874-1957) and Florence Lilian Bending née Payne (1873-1944). His father was a railway messenger.
The 1901 census shows him living with his parents at 18 Evelyn Road, South Wimbledon. He was a member of the 105th London Boys Brigade Company and in the 1911 census he is recorded as living at 26 Amersham Grove, New Cross, with his parents and sister Freda Annie Bending, b.1909. Both he and his father were shown as railway messengers working for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway.
On the outbreak of World War 1 he enlisted in the territorial forces, joining the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in their 1st City of London Sanitation Company, 15th Sanitary Section entering France on 19 January 1915. He died of wounds, aged 21 years, on 15 March 1915 and was buried in Row E, Grave 5 of the Ramparts Cemetery, Lille Gate, Ypres (now called Ieper), Belgium.
His father was sent his army effects totalling £1-3s-4d on 21 June 1915 and his £4-0s-0d war gratuity on 8 August 1919 to 121 Napier Street, Deptford. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is listed within the ‘General Office’ group on the war memorial at Victoria railway station and is also commemorated on the chancel gates within St Paul’s Church, Diamond Way, Deptford, SE8 3DS.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan
