Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : Sergeant

Army Number : 235434

Unit : 6th Bn

Biography :

Enlisted at Leicester. Served with the 6th Bn during World War One. Died of wounds in France and Flanders campaign 19.9.1918, aged 29. Formerly 52176, Sherwood Foresters. He is buried at Varennes Military Cemetery, Somme, France.

Further Info: Updated entry from "Of Fossils & Foxes" (2010 edition), re Benfield's football career: Benfield, Thomas Charles b. Leicester, Jan qtr 1889; d. France, 19th September 1918 Career: 1905 Leicester Old Boys; Army football; Feb & Oct 1907-trials-FOSSE; Oct 1907 & Jan 1910 Leicester Nomads; pro July 1910 FOSSE; June 1914 Derby County. Fosse debut v Hull City (H) 12.11.1910 A Leicestershire Regiment soldier who had Filbert Street trials while stationed at Glen Parva, and won Folkestone & Dover Senior League and Cup medals while based at Shorncliffe, Tommy was marked early for a post-demob professional career, especially after he became in 1909 the first Leicestershire man to be selected for the
prestigious annual Army v Navy encounter. With Fosse (after a £25 buy-out from the Army, which he had joined in December 1905), he appeared in four of the five forward positions across four seasons, and entered the game's annals as the first player to score a goal at Highbury, when Fosse faced Arsenal there in the inaugural match of September 1913. Tommy's developing marksmanship attracted the newly-relegated Rams (and poverty-stricken Fosse were rarely able to say no to a fee at this time), and in 1914/15 he returned to Filbert Street in a white shirt, scoring twice in a 6-0 away win. His fifteen goals as an ever-present inside-right the following term helped secure his new team the Second Division championship. Tommy, back in WW1 khaki, guested briefly for Fosse, Nottingham Forest and Grimsby; but Sergeant Benfield met a cruel end when shot by a German sniper in the closing months of the conflict, dying after a battlefield operation. LFFC Apps: FL 106; FAC 5; WW1 36. Goals: FL 23; WW1 9

CWGC:

BENFIELD, THOMAS CHARLES
Rank: Serjeant
Service No: 235434
Date of Death: 19/09/1918
Age: 29
Regiment/Service: Leicestershire Regiment 6th Bn.
Grave Reference: IV. A. 6.
Cemetery: VARENNES MILITARY CEMETERY
Additional Information:

Son of Thomas Charles Benfield, of Leicester; husband of Elsie E. Benfield, of 31, Woodland Rd., Leicester.

Date of Birth : c1889

Place of Birth : Leicester

Date of Death : 19.9.1918

Place of Death : France

Period of Service : 1910s

Conflicts : WW1

Places Served : France and Flanders