Benzie 1915

[Guest KevinEndon]

A minister up in Scotland sent me this remarkable piece of sewing from 1915 and it is in perfect condition.

Could a pal help me gain info on this chap for the minister, all info would be much appreciated

Kevin

[joseph]

Kevin,

Not much to go on could this be you man, at least Scotish.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=2

Nice work, are there any visible badges on the Photo.

Regards Charles

[Guest KevinEndon]

Thanks for the reply Joseph but a quick phone call suggests that the Benzie mentioned in your link from Alloa is not the one, we are looking for a connection with Peterhead or Aberdeen if possible, I dont know where to go to find Royal Navy personnel if infact he was Royal Navy and not something else.

The pic you see is as it is no other badges or anything else to help id the sailor, fingers crossed something turns up to id him.

Kevin

[joseph]

Kevin,

Peterhead or Aberdeen could point towards the RNR(Trawler Section) has the chap a fishing background?

Regards Charles

[Guest revian]

Kevin,

Peterhead or Aberdeen could point towards the RNR(Trawler Section) has the chap a fishing background?

Regards Charles

Hello all. I'm the chap that sent Kevin the picture. The mariner in the centre is my Grandfather, John Benzie originally of Peterhead and latterly of Aberdeen. Date of birth, 21st April 1867 in Peterhead, Date of Death, 9th May 1923 of a Cerebral Haemorrhage (stroke) in Ralston Hospital, Paisley. He had suffered the stroke some three years earlier, I was told this was a direct result of his war service. The death certificate records him as a Journeyman Cooper and Seaman - Royal Naval Reserve. I know his family home was in Holburn Street Aberedeen and that, for a time he was a patient in Erskine Hospital. This may explain how he came to die in Paisley and not back in Aberdeen. Somewhere, I may have a record suggesting which vessel he served on, but probably a trawler out of a North East Port. A lovely story, but truly poignant.... My father was a chemist in Greenock. around 1970, he was talking to an elderly lady customer who broke off to say she had to run to catch a bus to Erskine to visit her husband. It turned out the gentleman had been there since the Great War and my father was able to quickly mention that his father had spent time in Erskine. The next day, the lady was back to tell my father that her husband not only remembered my grandfather in Erskine, but that they had lain in adjoining beds! That is the amazing part.... the salutory lesson is that, that poor gentleman had been bed-ridden as a result of his injuries from, at the latest 1918 until 1970. As a Minister, I sometimes wonder if the true cost of war is not in the "clean" loss of life, but in the destroyed lives of the living and of their so wonderfully faithful relatives.

So - from what I've mentioned of my Grandfather - I have other relatives of the names Findlater and Warrender from the North East, has anybody and info I can add to my grandfather's history? How can I go abut gaining details of any decorations my grandfather may have earned? And, in the terms of the long-disabled, just how much of a debt do we owe, not just to them, but to their professional carers, and to their families?

Finally, I have recently been given what may be a bit of a gold mine of postcards with military photographs, also references to a Canadian Discharge Depot. When I get them all scanned, I'll send a DVD Rom to Kevin. He's my advisor and he will select what might be of use to the forum. Many Thanks Kevin! Regards to you all. Ian Benzie (Rev)