Edward White Benson was born at Lombard Street in
Highgate, Birmingham, on 14 July 1829, the eldest of eight children of Edward White Benson (26 August 1802 – 7 February 1843), a chemical manufacturer, and Harriet Baker (13 June 1805 – 29 May 1850). He was baptised in
St Martin in the Bull Ring, Birmingham, on 31 March 1830. The family moved to
Wychbold when his father became manager of the British Alkali Works at
Stoke Prior, Worcestershire. From 1840, he was educated at
King Edward's School, Birmingham and then
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA (8th in the
Classical tripos) in 1852. At King Edward's, under
James Prince Lee, Benson "manifested a deeply religious tone of mind and was fond of sermons".
Cambridge Ghost Society The Cambridge Association for Spiritual Inquiry, known informally as the Cambridge Ghost Society or the Ghostlie Guild, was founded by Benson and
Brooke Foss Westcott in 1851 at Trinity College. Westcott worked as its secretary until 1860. The society collected and investigated reports of
ghosts. Other notable members included
Alfred Barry and
Henry Sidgwick. According to the
Notebooks of Henry James, his source for the novella
The Turn of the Screw was the Archbishop of Canterbury (i.e. Benson) at
Addington Palace on 10 January 1895.
Schoolmaster at Rugby and Wellington Benson began his career as a schoolmaster at
Rugby School in 1852, and was ordained deacon in 1853 and priest in 1857. In 1859 Benson was chosen by
Prince Albert as the first Master of
Wellington College, Berkshire, which had recently been built as the nation's memorial to the
Duke of Wellington. Benson was largely responsible for establishing Wellington as a leading
public school, closely modelled upon Rugby School. The
Diocese of Truro was established in December 1876. Construction of
Truro Cathedral began in 1880 to a design by the
Gothic Revival architect
John Loughborough Pearson. From 24 October 1880 until 1887 a temporary wooden building on an adjacent site
served as the cathedral. As archbishop, Benson consecrated the cathedral on 3 November 1887. He founded
Truro High School for Girls in 1880.
Archbishop of Canterbury, 1883–1896 In 1883 he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Five years later Benson avoided
Edward King,
Bishop of Lincoln, being prosecuted before a lay tribunal under the
Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 for six
ritual offences by hearing the case in his own archiepiscopal court (inactive since 1699). In his judgement (often called "the Lincoln Judgement"), he found against the bishop on two points, with a proviso as to a third that when performing the manual acts during the prayer of consecration in the Holy Communion service, the priest must stand in a way that is visible to the people. He was taken ill while attending Sunday service in
St Deiniol's Church,
Hawarden, Wales, on 11 October 1896, during a visit to the former Prime Minister,
William Ewart Gladstone. His death was attributed to
heart failure. Three days later his body was put on the train at
Sandycroft station to be returned to
London. He was buried at
Canterbury Cathedral, in a magnificent tomb located at the western end of the nave. The tomb is emblazoned with the epitaph Benson had chosen:
Miserere mei Deus Per crucem et passionem tuam libera me Christe ("Have mercy on me O Christ our God, Through Thy Cross and Passion, deliver thou me"). His work concerning Saint
Cyprian,
Cyprian: his life, his times, his work, was published posthumously, in the year after his death. ==Legacy==