LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

839, Private Stephen BENNINGTON — 11th Hussars

Also recorded as "Binnington".

Birth & early life

Born in Lockington, Yorkshire, c.1815.

Enlistment

Enlisted at Beverley on the 19th of November 1834.

Age: 19.

Height: 5' 7".

Trade: None shown.

Appearance: Fresh complexion. Hazel eyes. Brown hair.

Service

Embarked for India on the 24th of October 1845.

Marriage

A son, Stephen, is shown in the Army Chaplain's Baptismal registers as being born at Hounslow in 1849.

The son born to him and his wife, Eliza Jane, was baptised on the 21st of October 1849 in the Military Chapel at Hounslow Barracks by "Special certificate."

1851 Census

Pockthorpe Barracks, Norwich.

Eliza Jane is shown in the 1851 Census as 27 years of age, born Kendal, Westmoreland, with Stephen Bennington, Soldier's child, born Hounslow.

Batman to Veterinary Surgeon Gloag in the Crimea from the 1st of June 1855.

From Private to Corporal: 9th of June 1859.

Discharge & pension

Discharged from Brighton on the 2nd of July 1859 "At own request after 24 years service."

Service to count, 24 years 218 days. In Turkey and the Crimea 2 years. India 2 years 6 months.

Aged 43 years 9 months on discharge.

Was granted a pension of 11d. per day. Living in the Preston Pension District from discharge and was still there in 1875.

Conduct and character: "very good". In possession of four Good Conduct badges.

Medals

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.

He was awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 10th of October 1856, with a gratuity of £5.

Commemorations

Life after service

1861 Census

Pennington Lane, Osmotherley, Lancs.

Stephen Binnington, 45, Chelsea Pensioner, born Lockington.

Eliza J, 43, born Kendal.

Three children shown: Stephen 11, William H. 3, Richard J. 7 months.

[CBJ: From the 1861 Census onwards the family appear as "Binnington".]

1871 Census

Neville Street, Ulverston, Lancashire.

Stephen Binnington appears on the 1871 Census. He was aged 53, Head, a widower and "Chelsea Pensioner", born Lockington. A son, Stephen 21, a printer, born Hounslow, Middlesex, is also shown, along with sons William H. 13, Richard J. 10, and daughter Elizabeth H. 7, all scholars born Ulverston, Lancs.

A housekeeper, Elizabeth Howard 51, is also present in the household. [RM]

Death registered

Eliza Jane Binnington, March Quarter 1871, Ulverston.

Death & burial

Death registration

The GRO records his death, aged 62, in the Ulverston registration district of Lancashire during the June quarter of 1880.

References & acknowledgements

Registration of death, and Census information for 1861, kindly provided by Chris Poole.

To follow up

[PB: In 1890, there was an article (with a line portrait) in a San Francisco newspaper mentioning a "Captain Bennington...whose father was a member of the Eleventh Hussars, the heroes of the brilliant but ill-fated charge of the "Light Brigade" in the Crimea".]





Is this Stephen Bennington's son in the San Francisco Call, 15 June 1890? No forename is given, but if he was 30 in 1890, he would have been born 1860 — hence it might well have been "Richard J."?

(Click on image to enlarge)

...Captain Bennington, is an Englishman who has sailed the globe, carried British troops to Egypt during the war there, taken stores through the Suez Canal while the Soudanese war was raging; Italian troops through to Massowah to fight the Abyssinians and British troops from Rangoon to Mandalay on a flotilla up the Irrawaddy. Although only 30 years old, he has spent sixteen at sea, and during that time has been twice ship-wrecked and once burned out in mid-ocean.

The captain comes of military stock, his father having been a member of the Eleventh Hussars, the heroes of the brilliant but ill-fated charge of the "Light Brigade" in the Crimea, Bennington is a well-knit man of medium height, bearded and bronzed from long exposure to the sea breeze.

[Source: San Francisco Call, 15 June 1890.]