Peterborough & The Great War

Biography

John George Benstead was born in 1863 at Terrington St Clement, Norfolk. John was the son of William and Rebecca Benstead and was one of four siblings.  In 1881 he was recorded as George Benstead, working as a farm servant at Terrington St Clement.

In 1883 aged 20, he married Emma Slaughter in St Albans and the following year railway employment records show that he started as a signal lamplighter with the Midland Railway at Burton Station, Burton-on-Trent. He moved from the goods department to take up this position.

In 1911 he was living with his wife Emma, daughter Lillian Maud and son Thomas Frederick at 35 Belvedere Road, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.  The couple had two other children, George and Edith.  John George was a member of the National Union of Railwaymen, (NUR), he first joined in 1903 when he was with the United Pointsmen and Signalmen Society. It amalgamated in 1913 with the NUR.

He passed through Peterborough East Station and signed the visitors’ book on 28 January 1917 on his way to Wisbech. He states that he was working on the London North Western Railway (LNWR) and further records show that by 1918, had had become a porter with the LNWR at Coventry.

John George left the NUR in March 1927, and died in December 1929 in the South Birmingham area aged 66.

His son George served with the Royal Engineers in WW2 as a signalman and was discharged from the special signals company at the end of the war.

Can you tell us more about John George?  Please get in touch if this story sounds familiar.