Benjamin Grant Briggs, known as Ben, was the older son of Benjamin Briggs and Gertrude Mary Clark. He was born in 1880 in Calcethorpe near Louth in Lincolnshire in a rural agricultural community. His father Benjamin came from a farming family and at the time of Ben’s birth he was working as an Auctioneer and Valuer, possibly in the farming industry.

Ben had six siblings two of whom died young. The surviving children were; Caroline Mary, Gertrude Amy who were older, then Helen Beecham and his younger brother Harry. By 1891 the family had moved south to Peterborough before coming to Boxmoor in 1892 where his father came to work, firstly as a Company Secretary for the Lim Mat Company and later, as an accountant with a firm of auctioneers. Initially they lived at 16 Horsecroft Road before moving to number 43 in 1906.

Ben attended Leverstock Green School after the family’s arrival in Hemel Hempstead although it is not apparent why he did so given that he lived in Boxmoor. However, he was a pupil at the school from 6th October 1891 until 14th November 1893 when he left at the age of thirteen.

Sometime after this date he enlisted with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in London and went to South Africa with 2nd Battalion to fight in the South African (Boer) War between 1899 and 1902. He saw action at The Battle of Tugela Heights between 14th and 27th February 1900, the last decisive engagement during The Relief of Ladysmith.

Ben held the rank of Colour Serjeant which changed in 1913 to Quarter Master Serjeant. This meant he was a non-commissioned officer in charge of supplies and who also served as the deputy to the company sergeant major and he was the second most senior NCO in the company.

By the time war broke out in August 1914 the 2nd Battalion was in Gibraltar and by September had returned to England before joining the 21st Brigade in the 7th Division which was concentrating around the New Forest.

Ben embarked for Belgium with the 2nd Battalion landing at Zeebrugge as part of the 21st Brigade in the 7th Division in the first week of October 1914 to assist in the defence of Antwerp. It arrived too late to prevent the fall of the city and instead took up defensive positions at important bridges and junctions to aid the retreat of the Belgian army.

The Battalion then saw action at the First Battle of Ypres in October followed by the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915. It was during the Battle of Neuve Chappelle between the 10th and 13th March that Ben was killed. He was one of over 11,000 Commonwealth casualties in a battle which saw the award of ten Victoria Crosses. Ben died on 12th March from wounds received the previous day.

His death was reported in the Hemel Gazette in March 1915.

Ben was 34 years old when he was killed.

He is Remembered with Honour at Estaires Communal Cemetery and Extension, Nord, France, where he is interred in Plot III.A.1.

Ben was also commemorated on a memorial plaque, dedicated in 1920 in Leverstock Green School, along with twenty old boys who had fallen in the Great War. He is not included on the village war memorial and this is explained by the fact that he was never resident in the village.

He was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.