Sergeant Robert Bentley started his career in the 1st Royal Dragoons at the age of 19. After seven years he joined the City of London Police, although he did return to the Dragoons during the Boer War in 1899-1902. During his impressive military career, he found time to woo his future wife Louisa. They married in December 1901 and, on the night of the murders, had just celebrated their 9th wedding anniversary. Louisa was pregnant with his second child, and gave birth only four days after his death. The child lived less than a year and was buried with his father. She received a widow’s pension of 30 shillings a week, plus 5 shillings a week for her daughter. Sergeant Bentley had showed a lot of promise as a police officer. The Commissioner Sir William Nott-Bower said he was ‘one of the most capable and promising officers of his rank and would doubtless have reached the higher ranks in the service but for his untimely death’. He was buried next to Sergeant Tucker in the City Cemetery at Ilford.
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