Bender, AC

Lieutenant Alfred Courtenay Bender

Alfred was born on December 14^th 1892, the eighth and youngest child of civil engineer Charles Bender and his wife Nancy; he and all four of his elder brothers would all go on to attend the College. Tragically for the family, Charles passed away in early 1903, months before Alfred and his immediately preceding brother Otto started at Dulwich. After spending seven years at Dulwich, Alfred went on to Queen’s College, Oxford, graduating in the summer of 1914 with a B.A. and an intention to attend Theological College.

The declaration of War however led to a change of plans, and Alfred instead volunteered, joining the Public Schools Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. In May 1915 he was given a commission, and transferred to the 15^th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, which was at that time newly created and being populated with recruits, largely from the Portsmouth area. In January 1916 he was promoted to Lieutenant, and in April of that year he went over to the Front for the first time, serving at Ploegsteert until he was wounded in July and invalided home. He returned to France in late 1916, in order to serve as Adjutant for the X Corps Reinforcement Camp, a position he held until returning to the Hampshires in April 1917. He was part of the successful assault on Messines Ridge in July, and was leading an attack on an objective during the capture of the Menin Ridge on September 20^th when he was shot in the head, dying instantaneously.