SS City of Benares was a steam passenger ship built for Ellerman Lines

Ellerman Lines

Ellerman Lines was a cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late nineteenth century, and continued to expand with the acquisition of smaller shipping lines until it became one of the largest shipping...

 by Barclay, Curle & Co

Barclay Curle

-History:The company was founded by Robert Barclay at Stobcross in Glasgow, Scotland during 1818. In 1862, the company built a large engineering works at Stobcross in Glasgow. In 1876, the company moved their yard down the river to Whiteinch. It was incorporated in 1884 as Barclay Curle...

 of Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 in 1936. During the Second World War the City of Benares was used as an evacuee ship to evacuate 90 children from Britain to Canada. The ship was purposefully targeted and torpedoed by the with heavy loss of life, including the death of 77 children. The sinking resulted in the total cancellation of the Children's Overseas Reception Board

Children's Overseas Reception Board

The Children's Overseas Reception Board was a British organisation that between July and September 1940 evacuated British children from that country in order to escape the Blitz . The children were sent to mainly to Canada, but also to Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa...

 (CORB) plan to relocate British children abroad.
City of Benares was built by Lithgows Ltd

Lithgows

Lithgows Limited, was a British shipbuilding company based in Kingston, Port Glasgow, on the River Clyde in Scotland.-Founding:The Company was established by Joseph Russell and his partners Anderson Rodger and William Lithgow who leased the Bay Yard in Port Glasgow from Cunliffe & Dunlop and...

, Port Glasgow

Port Glasgow

Port Glasgow is the second largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16617 persons...

.