230 sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



against, and I think that in whatever capacity Captain Benton 

 was employed he would always be working for the God of Hosts 

 whom he found among the lepers on Robben Island. The 

 echoes left in the many valleys where Captain Benton wandered 

 are haunting and pleasant, being full of hope and encourage- 

 ment to other wanderers. His moral courage was remarkable, 

 born of deep religious conviction and an enthusiastic and 

 emotional nature which enabled him to lead where many 

 would have hesitated. In the trenches he would kneel 

 down, whether muddy or dry, and say his prayers out loud, 

 hoping that perhaps others might join in and find help or 

 comfort in prayer. 



A memorial service and requiem for the repose of the soul of 

 Captain Benton was held in the parish church at Bearsted, where 

 the dead soldier-priest had worked during the incumbency of 

 the Rev. T. G. Lushington of Sandling Park, Maidstone. The 

 church was packed with people who were anxious to pay a last 

 tribute to the Padre's memory. 



The service was well arranged and impressive. The band 

 of the Royal Engineers (from a camp near) and their choir took 

 part in the service. Gounod's " Berceuse " was well played as 

 an opening voluntary by the band. 



Mr. Lushington, vicar and rural dean, preached a touching 

 sermon, choosing as his text, " Now there are diversities of gifts, 

 but the same Spirit." After speaking of the great work done 

 by Captain Benton as priest and soldier, he told the congregation 

 that " an officer going into the War Office not long ago said, 

 ' The bravest man I ever came across was a man called Benton,' " 

 and the man who said it did not know he was speaking to one 

 of Benton's friends. Other officers who had known the man 

 they mourned had said he earned, if he did not win, the Victoria 

 Cross some five or six times and the D.S.O. some twenty times. 

 The preacher confessed he regretted it when his friend decided 

 to give up his work as a chaplain for that of combatant officer, 

 but he could not condemn that choice after such magnificent 

 testimony. If there were some who did not approve of all his 

 methods they knew that a great man had fallen — a man cast in 

 no usual mould, but that heroic mould in which the world's great 

 princes Avere made, a fearless self-sacrificing spirit. 



At the end of the service the congregation remained standing 



