Charles Benning was born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire on 28 November 1884, the son of Charles Chrichton Stuart Benning (a solicitor) and Ellen Benning. He joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet on 15 September 1899 and was promoted to Midshipman on 15 January 1901. He was further promoted to Sub Lieutenant on 15 March 1904.

Lieutenant Charles Benning (Seniority 15 March 1905) was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS FORTH at Devonport on 30 September 1905 ‘for Training’ and, on 1 December 1906, he was fully qualified and his appointment had changed to HMS FORTH ‘for Submarines’. By December 1907 his appointment had changed again to HMS FORTH ‘for Command of Submarines’ but with no particular submarine specified. He was next appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS THAMES on 28 February 1908 ‘for Command of Submarine C9’. He had left HMS C9 by 4 February 1911 and he then returned to the Surface Fleet for his ‘Big Ship’ time on 4 February 1911 with an appointment to the cruiser HMS DIANA.

Charles Benning was promoted Lieutenant Commander on 15 March 1913. After his ‘Big Ship’ time he returned to submarines with appointments to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS BONAVENTURE and the Submarine Depot Ship HMS THAMES between 1 March and 19 September 1913. He was then appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MAIDSTONE at Portsmouth ‘for Submarine E5 in Command’ to date 20 September 1913. He took command of HMS E5 following the refit necessary after an engine room explosion on the passage from Barrow in Furness to Portsmouth had resulted in several deaths. The original Commanding Officer of E5 (Lieutenant Commander Charles Beecham Land) had moved on to another appointment. Charles Benning was still in Command of E5 in December 1914. He was promoted Commander on 30 June 1915. The Nominal List (revised 10 February 1916) shows his appointment to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS TITANIA at Blyth ‘for Command of Submarine J2 – completing’ to date 9 December 1915. Charles Benning was awarded the DSO on 25 October 1916.

His next appointment to HMS DOLPHIN ‘for Command of Submarine K1 – completing’ was announced in the Nominal List (revised 1 December 1916). HMS K1 was built by the Royal Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth and was commissioned in May 1917. On 1 May 1917 Submarine K1 was transferred to the Submarine Flotilla Leader HMS FEARLESS at Rosyth. Whilst serving in K1 Charles Benning was court-martialled for running the submarine aground on 17 June 1917 near Bow Rock off the Orkneys. He was acquitted of the charge on the grounds that rats had eaten that portion of his charts of the area. He was further court-martialled for the loss of K1 following the collision with K4. This time he was censured by the Court for his part in the events.

In December 1918 he was serving in the Submarine Depot Ship HMS ADAMANT (Special Service Flotilla) ‘in Command’ and ‘for Command of the Submarine Flotilla’ to which he has been appointed in February 1918. On 7 May 1919 he was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS THAMES ‘in Command and in Command of the Periscope School’. In November 1919 Charles Benning was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS VULCAN ‘in Command’. His next appointment was to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS TITANIA ‘in Command and in Command of Submarine Flotilla’ to date December 1920.

In September 1923 he was appointed to HMS DOLPHIN ‘in Command and as Captain (S)’. Thirty nine year old Charles Benning of Granada House, 29, Granada Road, Southsea died in the Royal Navy Hospital, Haslar on 7 May 1924 from an ulcerated large bowel and a ‘thrombosis of mesenteric vessels’. His Next of Kin was his wife, Effie Maud Benning (née Bowson) – they had been married in the Priory Church in Dunstable on 15 August 1911. He is buried in the Clayhall Naval Cemetery in Alverstoke, Hants in Grave No. H. 9.3.