Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Arthur BENSLEY and Margaret BENSLEY nee ELDER, Wellington Point, Brisbane, Qld.

Mark Bensley was born in Rosewood, Queensland.  He was living in Wellington Point when he enlisted on 27 July 1915.  He worked as a post and telegraph engineer, and completed a smithing apprenticeship.  

Mark quickly rose through the ranks.  By 6 August 1916 he was a Corporal, and by 3 July 1917 he had been promoted to Lieutenant.

On 26 February, 1917, he received gunshot wounds to the face and elbow and was transferred to hospital in London.  He returned to France after being discharged from hospital on 30 April, 1917. 

He was granted 3 months' leave from 17 March to 17 June 1919, ruring which he worked with the Electrical Engineers' branch at the General Post Office in London.  He married Ellen May Preston in London on 21 July 1919 and returned to Australia on 22 August 1919.

Eldest of four brothers who served in WWI and/or WWII, Major Mark Bensley (Service Nos:2560/Q155002) served in the Army in both WWI and WWII, enlisiting as a Private on 27 July 1915 with 26 Infantry Battalion. Private Bensley embarked from Brisbane for the Middle East with his Unit on 21 October 1915 on board HMAT Seang Bea, transferring in Melbourne to HMAT Ulysses. On 29 March 1916 Private Bensley embarked from Alexandria for Marseilles, and was attached to 12th Infantry Battalion in France when he was promoted to Corporal on 6 August 1916. In early 1917 he qualified for a commission - appointed 2nd Lieutenant - and was WiA in February (GSW to elbow and face). In 1919 Lieutenant Bensley was in London - seconded to the Education Staff, and awarded three months paid leave for employment with the Electrical Engineers Brach of the London GPO. On 22 August 1919, Lieutenant Bensley embarked from England for Brisbane on board HT Anchises, and was attached to 12th Battalion at Termination of Appointment on 13 December 1919. In WWII Major Bensley served in the ACMF with Lines of Communication Signals from 16 March 1942 to 17 January 1945. His only son, Marcus, was KiA in Italy in WWII.

Mark was born in Rosewood on the Darling Downs, QLD in 1891, eldest of five children of Arthur Bensley Snr (b1864 in Norfolk, England) and Margaret (Maggie) Elder (b1869 in Fifeshire, Scotland). Arthur immigrated in 1871, arriving in Brisbane with his parents and siblings on board the Storm King, and Maggie arrived in Cooktown with her parents and siblings in 1884 on board the Chybassa. Arthur was a Freeholder at Rosewood in 1890 when he and Maggie married. They settled in Rosewood, where they raised their family and Arthur was a Farmer. By 1912 Arthur and Maggie moved to Cleveland in Brisbane, and in the 1920s to Stanthorpe - Arthur was a Fruit Grower and Orchardist.

Mark started work in Rosewood as a Blacksmith, before entry to the Public Service, and was a Junior Assistant Engineer with the Postmaster Generals Department in Rockhampton when he enlisted in the AIF in 1915. Mark was in London in 1919 when he married Ellen May Preston (b1899 in London, England), and he and Ellen settled in Brisbane where they raised their family. Mark worked as an Engineer with the PMGs Department until retirement, and died in 1958. Ellen died in 1985.