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BENSON, EDWARD WHITE (182g—1896)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 745 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BENSON, See also:EDWARD See also:WHITE (182g—1896) , See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, was See also:born on the 14th of See also:July 1829, at See also:Birmingham. He came of a See also:family of See also:Yorkshire dalesmen, his See also:father, whose name was also Edward White Benson, being a manufacturing chemist of some See also:note. He was educated at See also:King Edward VI.'s school, Birmingham, under See also:James See also:Prince See also:Lee, afterwards See also:bishop of See also:Manchester, and amongst his school-See also:fellows were B.F. See also:Westcott and J. B. See also:Lightfoot, both of whom preceded him to Trinity See also:College, See also:Cambridge, where he was elected a sub-See also:sizar in 1848, becoming subsequently sizar and See also:scholar. The See also:death of his widowed See also:mother in 185o See also:left him almost without resources, with a family of younger See also:brothers and sisters dependent upon him. Relations came to his aid, and presently his anxieties were relieved by See also:Francis See also:Martin, See also:bursar of Trinity, who gave him liberal help. Benson took his degree in 1852 as a See also:senior optime, eighth classic and senior See also:chancellor's medallist, and was elected See also:fellow of Trinity in the following See also:year. He became a See also:master at See also:Rugby, first under E. M. See also:Goulburn, and then (1857) under See also:Frederick See also:Temple, who became his lifelong friend; he was also ordained See also:deacon in 1854 and See also:priest in 1856.

From Rugby he went to be first headmaster of See also:

Wellington College, which was opened in See also:January 1859; and in the course of the same year he married his See also:cousin, See also:Mary See also:Sidgwick. The school flourished under his management and also See also:developed his administrative abilities, but gradually his thoughts began to turn towards other See also:work. In 1868 he became See also:prebendary of See also:Lincoln and examining See also:chaplain to Bishop See also:Christopher See also:Wordsworth, an See also:office which he also held for a See also:short See also:time in 187o for Dr Temple, just appointed to the see of See also:Exeter. In 1872 his See also:acceptance of the chancellorship of Lincoln opened a new See also:period of his See also:life. As chancellor, the statutes directed him to study See also:theology, to See also:train others in that study and to oversee the educational work of the See also:diocese. To such work Benson at once devoted himself; and did more perhaps than any other See also:man to reinvigorate See also:cathedral life in See also:England. He started a theological college (the Scholae Cancellarii), founded See also:night See also:schools, delivered courses of lectures on See also:church See also:history, held See also:Bible classes, and was instrumental in See also:founding a society of See also:mission preachers for the diocese, the " Novale Novale." See also:Early in 1877 he was consecrated first bishop of See also:Truro, and threw himself with characteristic vigour into the work of organizing the new diocese. His knowledge, his sympathy, his See also:enthusiasm soon made themselves See also:felt everywhere; the ruridecanal conferences of See also:clergy became a real force, and the church in See also:Cornwall was inspired with a vitality that had never been possible when it was See also:part of the unwieldy diocese of Exeter. A See also:chapter was constituted, the bishop being See also:dean; amongst its members was a See also:canon missioner (the first to be appointed in England), and the Scholae Cancellarii were founded after the Lincoln See also:pattern. Moreover, the bishop at once set to work to build a cathedral. The See also:foundation-See also:stone was laid on the 2oth of May 188o, and on the 3rd of See also:November 1887 the See also:building, so far as then completed, was consecrated. On the death of Dr See also:Tait, Benson was nominated to the see of Canterbury and was enthroned on the 29th of See also:March 1883.

His primacy was one of almost unprecedented activity. Frequent communications passed between him and the heads of the Eastern Churches. With their approval a bishop was again consecrated, after six years' See also:

interval (1881—1887), for the See also:Anglican congregations in See also:Jerusalem and the See also:East; and the features which had made the See also:plan objectionable to many See also:English churchmen were now abolished. In 1886, after much careful investigation, he founded the " Archbishop's Mission to the See also:Assyrian Christians," having for its See also:object the instruction and the strengthening from within of the " Nestorian " churches of the East (see See also:NESTORIANS). An interchange of courtesies with the See also:Metropolitan of See also:Kiev on the occasion of the See also:Booth anniversary of the See also:conversion of See also:Russia (1888), led to further intercourse, which has tended to a friendlier feeling between the English and See also:Russian churches. On the other See also:hand, with the efforts towards a rapprochement with the Church of See also:Rome, to which the visit of the See also:French See also:Abbe Portal in 1894 gave some stimulus, the archbishop would have nothing to do. With the other churches of the Anglican Communion the archbishop's relations were cordial in the extreme and See also:grew loser as time went on. Particular questions of importance, the (1906), Beside Still See also:Waters (1907). He also collaborated with See also:Lord See also:Esher in editing the See also:Correspondence of See also:Queen See also:Victoria (1907). The third son, EDWARD FREDERICK BENSON (b. 1867), was educated at See also:Marlborough College and King's College, Cambridge. He worked at See also:Athens for the See also:British Archaeological Society from 1892 to 1895, and subsequently in See also:Egypt for the Hellenic Society.

In 1893 his society novel, See also:

Dodo, brought him to the front among the writers of See also:clever fiction; and this was followed by other novels, notably The Vintage (1898) and The Capsina (1899). The See also:fourth son, See also:ROBERT See also:HUGH BENSON (b. 1871), was educated at See also:Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. After See also:reading with Dean See also:Vaughan at See also:Llandaff he took orders, and in 1898 became a member of the Community of the Resurrection at See also:Mirfield. In 1903 he became a See also:Roman See also:Catholic, was ordained priest at Rome in the following year, and returned to Cambridge as assistant priest of the Roman Catholic church there. Among his numerous publications are The See also:Light Invisible, By What Authority?, The King's Achievement, See also:Richard See also:Raynal, Solitary, The Queen's Tragedy, The Sentimentalists, Lord of the See also:World. See A. C. Benson, Life of Archbishop Benson (2 vols., See also:London, 1899); J. H. See also:Bernard, Archbishop Benson in See also:Ireland (1897); See also:Sir L. T.

See also:

Dibdin in The Quarterly See also:Review, See also:October 1897.

End of Article: BENSON, EDWARD WHITE (182g—1896)

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