Spencer John Bent was born on 18th March 1891, at the Pickerel Inn, Station Road, Stowupland in Stowmarket, Suffolk, a market town that sits beside the River Gipping. By the age of 10, he was an orphan: his father, who had served with the Royal Horse Artillery, was killed during the Boer War and his mother had died, too. He was largely brought up by his uncle and aunt, William and Mrs Baker of Verendah Cottage, Whitnesham near Ipswich. He was just 14 when he joined the Army in 1905 as a drummer in the 1st Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment. When he boxed at lightweight in Army championships, he was soon christened “Joe” a corruption of “Chow” Bent, a well known professional boxer at the time. The nickname stayed with him until his death, with only his closest family continuing to call him by his second Christian name of John.
After the outbreak of the Great War, Bent accompanied his regiment to France and saw action at the Battle of Le Cateau. However, it was for gallantry in the first Battle of Ypres, which started on October 19th that he was awarded his VC. His platoon was holding one of the front line trenches near Le Gheer, Belgium, after a ferocious day’s fighting. On the night of November 1/2, an exhausted Bent was trying to get some sleep but awoke to find his comrades abandoning their positions. There was no officer in the trench to give the order to withdraw, nor even a non commissioned officer, because the platoon’s sergeant was visiting an advance post. Yet someone had passed word down the line that the battalion had been ordered to retire. Bent started following the others but then decided he could not bear to leave his treasured French trumpet, so he made his way back.
When Bent reached the trench, he spotted a soldier, raised his rifle and demanded that the man, whom he assumed to be a German, identify himself. It turned out to be the platoon’s recently returned sergeant, who told him that no orders to retire had been given. Bent immediately ran after some of his comrades to call them back and encountered an officer who helped him round up the rest of the platoon.
Early the next morning, German infantry advanced confidently towards the trench, clearly believing it had been abandoned. When they were within 400 yards, the British machine gun and rifles opened fire, causing the advancing infantrymen to run for cover. Before long the German artillery launched a heavy, bombardment and the officer, platoon sergeant and a number of the men were killed or injured. Bent took command and repelled several more infantry attacks until, later in the day, he was relieved.
This was just one of several courageous actions by Drummer Bent in late 1914. On October 22nd he carried ammunition to a patrol that had been cut off by the Germans. Two days later he brought ammunition and food to a front line trench under heavy shell and rifle fire. On November 3rd, he repeatedly risked his life by venturing into no man’s land to rescue several wounded men. One of these, Private McNulty,
was 25 to 30 yards from the British trench and, when Bent attempted to lift him, the two men came under a hail of enemy bullets. To get him to safety, Bent hooked his feet under McNulty’s armpits and edged backwards, dragging the injured man behind him.
Spencer John Bent was initiated into the Order in the Sir Lionel Jacobs Lodge, Devonport.
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