CORPORAL ARTHUR SAMUEL BENNELL
ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY
17TH SEPTEMBER 1917 AGE 21
BURIED: VLAMERTINGHE MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
Chelmsford Chronicle
26 October 1917
Essex Roll of Honour
Cpl. A.S. Bennell R.F.A. son of Mr and Mrs Bennell 41 Queen Street, Colchester, was killed in action aged 21. Before the war he was employed by Messrs. E. Scott and Son, grocers. Three other brothers are still serving.
Corporal Bennell's father, John, chose his inscription. It comes from I Corinthians 15:26 in the English Revised Version of the New Testament, first published in 1881. The passage declares that Christ's death and resurrection have destroyed death so that when we die we will have overcome our last enemy and are assured of everlasting life.
Bennell's inscription is yet more evidence of comfort families received from their belief in an afterlife. To some it was just the thought that they would all meet again whereas to others it was the full Christian belief in the resurrection and the life of the world to come.