Memorial

Statue Benson 1901 Beaumont Street

Hexham

Memorial Name: Statue Benson 1901 Beaumont Street (H51.01)

NEWMP Ref No.: H51.01

Parish: Hexham

Original Location:

Top of Beaumont Street

Which War:

South Africa 1899-1902

Dedication, Creation or Publication date:

Unveiled Wednesday, 9th March 1904 by Lord Methuen.

Materials Used:

Bronze statue on stone plinth.

How Money was Raised:

Public subscription

Sculptor, Artist or Designer:

John Tweed, 144 Cheyne Road, Chelsea.

Inscription:

To the memory of a Gallant Soldier
George Elliott Benson
Lieut. Colonel
in the Royal Regiment of Artillery
who was born at Allerwash May 24th 1861
entered the Army May 1880
and after serving with distinction
in the Soudan campaigns of 1885, 1896, 1898,
in the Ashanti Expedition 1895
and in the South African War 1899-1901
fell while commanding his column
at the Battle of Brakenlaagte Oct.30th 1901

He is buried with those who fought
and died with him
The Unreturned Brave.

Erected by public subscription.

Memorial Description:

Statue of a soldier on a stone plinth, overall height 23 feet (7m).

The statue is about 10 feet (3m) high.

The soldier is in uniform but minus hat, striding and upright, with binoculars in his hand.

The plinth is 335 inches high x 24 inches wide (89cms x 61cms).

There is a bronze plaque 35 inches wide by 23 inches wide (89cms x 60cms) on which the inscription is in raised Roman capitals.

Names:

See above

Notes:

1. The Statue is placed so that Lt. Col. Benson is facing his old home in the South Tyne Valley.

2. There is a proposal to create a new road layout which incorporates this statue in a traffic island.

3. See his Every Name A Story entry

External Links:

Historic England Listing

Sources:

Photos: C.N. Dallison; Old postcard: Tony Harding; John S. Perry

Hexham Courant
09/11/1901; 07/12/1901; 21/12/1901; 11/01/1902; 22/03/1902; 02/08/1902; 03/10/1903; 23/10/1903; 07/11/1903; 30/01/1904; 20/02/1904; 12/03/1904 (unveiling); 06/07/1904; 01/02/1905

Morpeth County Library
Frith collection of photographs; Postcard collection shows monument before and after railings were built.

Hexham and its Abbey Hodges & Gibson, 1919 page 136.

Buildings of England Northumberland Pevsner 1992 page 332

The Great Boer War Byron Farwell, Wordsworth Editions, 1977, pages 356-361 gives an account of Lt. Col. Benson’s role in the war and subsequent death.

Register of the Royal Grammar School Newcastle upon Tyne 1545-1954 Compiled and edited by B.D. Stevens, LL.B. contains an entry.

Source of quotation
“Unreturned brave” Childe Harolde Lord Byron.