Early Years
Benjamin Martin was born in Newick in 1896, the 7th child of Benjamin Martin Snr. and his wife Catherine, who were both from Newick. By 1901, the family, consisting of Benjamin Snr., Catherine and their children John, George, James, Charlie, Henry, Emily and Benjamin Jnr. were living in Oxbottom. Benjamin attended the village school between 1904 and 1909.
By 1911 the Martins were living in Strawberry Gardens in Newick, and Benjamin Jnr. was working as a domestic gardener. He was the only one of the Martin children still living at home, apart from a younger sibling named Bertie. However, one of his father’s uncles, also called Benjamin, was living with them by that date, resulting in the somewhat confusing scenario of three people named Benjamin Martin living under the same roof.
Joining up in 1916
Relatively little is known of his military career despite the fact that his full service record survives. He joined up on the 7th February 1916 at Lewes, giving his age as 19 years and 72 days. He was 5ft 8¾in tall and had a 36in chest. He gave his place of birth as Newick, his religion as ‘Wesleyan’ and his occupation as ‘Butcher’. His next-of-kin was his father, Benjamin Snr. His active service began on the 27th March when he reported for duty at the army depot in Chichester. It appears that he was originally posted to a battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, but he was transferred to the 50th Company, Machine Gun Corps on 12th May 1916, and served as No. 36043 Private Benjamin Martin.
Benjamin sailed for the continent on 3rd December 1916, and served there until July 1918 as a signaller. His records hold no details of his time on the continent, but do show that he returned to England after he contracted Pulmonary Tuberculosis while on active service.
Hospitalised with Pulmonary Tuberculosis
He was admitted to a military hospital in Edgbaston, Birmingham on 22nd July 1918. After a considerable amount of correspondence to and from various army departments, he was officially discharged from the army on 18th September 1918. He was awarded a pension of 27s 6d a week.
He was subsequently admitted to Hangleton Hospital, Portslade, an isolation hospital, since mostly demolished, (although the hospital’s water tower survives as the Foredown Tower, visible from the A27). Benjamin died there on the 22nd October 1918. His death certificate gives the cause of death as ‘Pulmonary Tuberculosis/Exhaustion’. He was 22 years old. His demise was registered two days later by his father, who was still living in Strawberry Gardens. Benjamin was brought home and buried in the churchyard here in Newick. The huge number of mourners at his funeral is recorded in The East Sussex News of Friday 1stNovember 1918. He was apparently of a ‘cheerful and obliging disposition’.
The Missing Silver War Badge
In a somewhat unfortunate postscript, Benjamin Martin Snr. received a letter from the War Office in July 1920 requesting the number of his son’s Silver War Badge (a decoration given to servicemen discharged owing to wounds or disease). He replied ‘My son died soon after his discharge. He never received a silver badge.’ Benjamin Snr. did however receive his son’s medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, and acknowledged their receipt in January 1922.
Commemorating Private Benjamin Martin
On the 20th March 1922, Benjamin Martin's original headstone was replaced with an ‘official’ Imperial War Graves Commission headstone. It bears the inscription, ‘IN THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS THERE IS REST SWEET REST’, words from a popular hymn of the time, chosen by his father. An inspection carried out by the Imperial War Graves Commission in August 1922 showed that the new stone was actually the wrong size and recommended its replacement; it is not known if this was ever carried out. The current gravestone, now nominally cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, lies on the south side of the parish church.
Benjamin is also commemorated inside the church on the name plaque for the fallen, as well as at the school and in the village’s Roll of Honour, Book of Remembrance and at The Green
Two of the other Martin boys also saw military service but survived the war; Charles served with the Royal Garrison Artillery and Henry was a pre-war regular who spent much of the war in India and Mesopotamia with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment.
