Frank Benjamin King

Frank Benjamin King was a prefect at John Lyon School and later worked in the Finance Department of Middlesex County Council before enlisting in the Queen’s Westminster Rifles in 1914, where he rose to the rank of sergeant. Frank was killed in action in Palestine on 8 December 1917, aged 25.

Civilian Life - Frank was born in Tottenham in 1892 and was baptised on 15 January 1893 at St Mark’s Church, Noel Park, Wood Green. He was the son of Alfred William and Agnes Eliza King, who had seven children: Herbert, Edward, Frank, Ruth, Ernest, Stephen and Helen, in age order. His father worked as a grocer and shopkeeper. Records from John Lyon School state that he was a prefect in 1907. By 1911, the family was living in Church Road, Northwood, and Frank, aged 18, was employed in the Finance Department of Middlesex County Council. His family moved to British Columbia, Canada, possibly after Frank joined the Army.

Military Life - In 1914, Frank King enlisted in the Queen’s Westminster Rifles. He served with the 2nd/16th Battalion of the London Regiment and rose to the rank of Serjeant, serving his initial Territorial Service Number 2809 which changed to 550664 under a renumbering of the territorial force in 1917. King was serving in Palestine during the British advance on Jerusalem.

On the 8th of December 1917, his battalion was ordered to launch a major assault against heavily fortified Ottoman defensive positions on the strategic heights overlooking the Holy City. The Allied objective was to drive the Ottoman forces out and capture Jerusalem. The attack was executed under horrific weather conditions, including thick mountain fog, freezing rain, and mud. As the Queen's Westminster Rifles advanced up the steep, boulder-strewn terraces, they were met with fierce Ottoman machine-gun and artillery resistance. King was killed during this intense final push.

The sacrifice of men like King ultimately succeeded; the Ottoman forces retreated that night, and Jerusalem surrendered to British forces the following morning. The Battle of Jerusalem (17 November to 30 December 1917) was a pivotal battle which ended 400 years of Ottoman Rule over the Holy City British Prime Minister David Lloyd George had strictly ordered General Edmund Allenby to deliver the city's capture as a "Christmas present" for the British public to boost morale during a bleak phase on the Western Front.

Frank was buried at Jerusalem War Cemetery. His name is recorded on the Middlesex Guildhall War Memorial and the Northwood War Memorial. Although he had attended John Lyon School, he was not included on the school's original war memorials and was subsequently identified through research.