213829 Pte Benjamin Dodds British Army 15th Battalion Durham Light Infantry from:Durham (d.30th Dec 1915) Benjamin Dodds was my great uncle, the oldest brother of my grandfather Jeremiah. He served in world was one with the 15th battalion of the Durham light infantry. Prior to enlisting he was a miner. He was married to Rose and they had two children as far as I know. He was killed in action whilst serving in the Western European theatre and is buried in Houplines communal cemetery extension in France. I believe that the 15th Battalion were part of the 21st battalion and that they landed in Bologne in September 1915. He would have been around the age of thirty at the time, having been born in 1885. His rank was that of a private and his service number was 15675. His grave memorial reference number in the cemetery at Houplines is 11B38. I believe that his widow married his brother John (Jack) after he died, and that they were very happily married. Benjamin died within the first year of the war and I am not sure which campaigns he would have been involved in. I hope to find out a lot more about him and would dearly like to visit his grave in France to pay my respects to a man who's life had already clearly been hard prior to enlisting and beyond imagination following enlistment.
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