Edward White Benson
14 July 1829 -
11 October 1896

Family

The archbishop was the son of Edward White Benson the elder, a chemical manufacturer. In 1859, E. W. Benson the younger married Mary Sidgwick.

Education

Benson was educated under James Prince Lee at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1848. He graduated with his B.A. in 1852, and was elected fellow of Trinity in the following year. He served, first, under E. M. Goulburn and, then, under F. Temple, as a master at Rugby. In 1859, he was appointed master of the newly constituted Wellington College, which appointment he held until 1872.

Church Appointments and Service

He was ordained deacon in 1853, and priest in 1857. He was appointed prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral in 1869 and Chancellor of Lincoln Minster in 1872. In this latter position, he was responsible for the teaching of divinity within the diocese, and for the training of candidates for the ministry. In 1876, he refused the bishopric of Calcutta, but in the following year accepted the bishopric of the newly formed See of Truro. In December 1882, he was elevated to the archiepiscopate of Canterbury.

Footnote

"Like his pattern, Cyprian, Benson, though a born priest, would do nothing without his laity. . . . He created in 1886 a house of laymen to sit in [consultative] connection with the convocation of his province. . . . The house of laymen is one of the chief monuments of his statesmanship.

"The event of Benson's primacy which is generally considered to be the most important was the trial of Dr. Edward King, bishop of Lincoln, before him [in 1889-90] for alleged ritual offences. . . . His judgment was a masterpiece of erudition as well as of judicial lucidity." -- DNB 22: 171-79