Arnold Kirkpatrick Benham died suddenly in Johannesburg on May 6th, 1944, at the age of 40.
He was originally trained for the sea, which he left in 1924 to enter the Camborne School of Mines. He graduated in 1927 with a first-class Diploma, and spent the following twelve months with Consolidated Main Reef Mines and Estates, Transvaal, on a postgraduate course.
In 1928 he was appointed cadastral surveyor to Rhodesian Selection Trust, Ltd., Northern Rhodesia, and in March, 1930, became mine geologist to the Rhodesia Katanga Co., Ltd.
After nearly two years as a contractor in gold mines on the Witwatersrand, Mr. Benham took up the position of assistant general manager to Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd. From 1934 to 1935 he practised as a mining consultant in Kenya, subsequently spending some months prospecting in the vicinity of Lake Rudolf and later in the Uganda Protectorate, where he opened up the Kaine tin mine. He remained there for seven months and was then employed for a short time as mine surveyor on Witwatersrand. In December, 1936, he joined the staff of Southern van Ryn Deep Gold Mining Co., Ltd., as manager of the Goudplaats mine in the western Transvaal.
For a year before the outbreak of war he practised as a mining consultant in Cape Province, and in October, 1939, joined the Seaward Defence Force of the Union, being commissioned as a Lieutenant in January, 1940.
He resigned his commission in 1941 and returned to England as a ship’s officer, and in December, 1941, joined the Inter-Services Research Bureau, for work in Burma. Soon after arrival in Burma he was transferred to the Indian Engineers with the rank of Major, and saw active service on the Burma front. Because of his early sea-going qualifications, though still a Major in the Army, he commanded a vessel of about 1,200 tons on a hazardous mission.
In 1943, Major Benham was obliged to leave India on account of ill health, and he returned to South Africa, where he died. He was elected a Student of the Institution in 1928 and was transferred to Associateship in 1932.
Vol. 54, Trans I.M.M. 1944-5, p. 258
