Major George Henry Benton Fletcher (22 October 1866 – 31 December 1944) was a collector of early keyboard instruments including

virginals The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...

s, harpsichords,

spinet A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ. Harpsichords When the term ''spinet'' is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the ''bentside spinet'', described in this ...

s and early pianos.Waitzman, Mimi. '’The Benton Fletcher Collection at Fenton House, Early Keyboard Instruments'’, p. 14. The National Trust 2003. His collection is currently housed and kept in playing condition by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in Fenton House, a beautiful late 17th century merchant's house in, Hampstead, north London.

Career

He was involved in social work in London slums from 1889 to 1899 with Octavia Hill and her Cadet Battalion, in a model social housing scheme in Red Cross Cottages, Southwark.Whelan, Robert, "Octavia Hill's Letters to Fellow Workers 1872–1911, Kyrle Society 2005 p 284-285, 303, 718, xli During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

and the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

"Obituary", Major Benton Fletcher, Times ondon, England3 January 1945:7 he served as a railway transport officer. He assisted Professor

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

on excavations in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and Palestine by drawing archaeological finds.Flinders Petrie, W.M., Mackay, Ernest and Wainwright, Gerald, "Meydum and Memphis (111)", p.1. British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Bernard Quaritch 1910, London He became an artist, a book illustrator, a writer and a traveller, drawing King

Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi ( ar, الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, al-Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī; 1 May 18544 June 1931) was an Arab leader from the Banu Hashim clan who was the Sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1908 and, after procl ...

, who had invited him to Arabia in 1921, and made several expeditions to the

Libyan Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

, Hejaz and Sahara deserts. In 1934 he found an elegant but dilapidated Charles II town house called

Old Devonshire House Old Devonshire House at 48 Boswell Street, was located between Theobald's Road in Bloomsbury, and Queen Square, London. William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire had the house built in 1668 for his son, also called William Cavendish, who was M ...

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

. He bought, restored and furnished it with antiques and his growing collection of early keyboard instruments as a music centre for amateurs, students and professionals. He gave this and other houses and his collection of instruments to the

in 1938. He became something of a social and press celebrity and raconteur giving talks on the

BBC National Programme The BBC National Programme was a radio service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – replacing the earlier BBC's experimental station 5XX – until 1 September 1939 when it was subsumed into the Home Service, two days before the outbrea ...

radio service in 1938-9 and early television broadcasts from Alexandra Palace featuring his stories and keyboard instruments in 1937-8. His art exhibitions, early musical instrument concerts and furniture collection were patronised by royalty, military and society figures. Although he was called "the luckiest collector in the world", he was unlucky that Old Devonshire House was totally destroyed in a Luftwaffe bombing raid on Holborn, London in May 1941. However he had had the foresight to move most of his keyboard instruments, in January 1941, to

Bourton-on-the-Hill Bourton-on-the-Hill is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, and about west of Moreton-in-Marsh. In 2010 it had an estimated population of 288.Hunt, Edgar. "A Harpsichord Odyssey (11)", The English Harpsichord Magazine, vol.3, no 1, 1981.

The Early Keyboard Collection

The keyboard instruments collected by Benton FletcherFletcher, Benton "The Amateur Musician" vol 111, no. 2, 1939 pp 39–44 include six English harpsichords from the second half of the eighteenth century. Two are from Burkat Shudi's workshop in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

. One is a single manual model dated 1761 and the other is a double manual harpsichord, naming both Burkat Shudi and John Broadwood as makers, dated 1770. The later instrument is faced with amboyna burl wood and is among the most elaborate of late English harpsichords, featuring the Venetian swell patented by Shudi in the same year, a machine stop, six hand-stops and a pedal action, with five notes below FF. Three instruments from Kirckman in London include a single manual harpsichord by Jacob Kirckman of 1752, a simple instrument with only 2 sets of 8' strings, a double manual harpsichord by Jacob Kirckman of 1762 with "book-matched" walnut veneer panels, and a double manual instrument by Jacob and Abraham Kirckman of 1777. A Longman and Broderip, a single manual harpsichord, made by Thomas Culliford dated 1783, which was the first harpsichord acquired by Benton Fletcher, includes a buff stop and a pedal machine stop. An anonymous Italian harpsichord of about 1590 with original jacks and keyboard is unusual having only one string per note. It has two split accidentals allowing either chromatic or selected lower bass notes to be played with the front or back component of the "same" key. The interior of the lid features a painting of Moses and Aaron in an Italianate landscape. There are two bentside

spinets A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ (music), organ. Harpsichords When the term ''spinet'' is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the ''bentside spinet'', descr ...

. One, by John Hancock, London, is of late eighteenth century origin, with a single curve to the bentside. The other is unsigned, appears to be English and may have been made in 1742. It features a wing-shaped bent-side with a double curve as well as elegant ebony accidentals with a central ivory strip. Three of the four

in his collection are Italian. The oldest and lightest, dated 1540 is by Marcus Siculus of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. It includes a well preserved

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...

rose of extravagant tracery, and is decorated with bone studs and symmetrical floral decoration. A more robustly made

attributed to Vincentius Pratensis was made in the late 16th or early 17th century. An unusual

attributed to Giovanni Celestini,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, also of late 16th or early 17th century construction has two rather than one string per note and a false inner-outer case, which is the custom of some Italian makers to make a case that looks as if a delicate inner instrument is lying within a protective outer case when in fact it is all one. Benton Fletcher said that he found this instrument in a cellar in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

where it was being used as a carpenter's workbench. A late example of virginals by Robert Hatley, London, 1664, opens to reveal an inside lid and drop-down front painted with figures in 17th century dress in landscape, with applied gilt papers. There is an anonymous triple fretted German

of late 17th or early 18th Century origin. A grand piano inscribed

Americus Backers Americus Backers (died 1778), sometimes described as the father of the English grand pianoforte style, brought the hammer striking action for keyboard instruments from his master Gottfried Silbermann's workshop in Freiburg to England in the mid-18 ...

, London, of the late 1770s is possibly an 18th-century "fake"; the instrument is genuine but it was probably not made by Backers. There is also a

square piano The square piano is a type of piano that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side, with the sounding board above a cavity in the short side. It is variously ...

of eighteenth origin by Christopher Ganer, London. Instruments collected by Benton Fletcher and probably lost during the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

raid on Holborn in 1941 include an early 16th-century Italian painted

, and two grand pianos, one by Matthew and William Stodart of 1791 and the second by Kirckman of 1803. A 16th-century portable pipe organ and a larger pipe organ of 1754 by Merlin were also lost. A third spinet is described by Edgar Hunt. If it was in the collection, it may have been lost then as well. In Fenton House there are four keyboard instruments acquired after the death of Benton Fletcher in 1944, which are now considered as part of the collection. There is an Ioannes Ruckers harpsichord of 1612 from Antwerp enlarged in England in the 18th century belonging to Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, formerly housed in

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

, a

John Broadwood John Broadwood (6 October 1732 – 17 July 1812) was the Scottish founder of the piano manufacturer Broadwood and Sons. Life Broadwood was born 6 October 1732 and christened 15 Oct 1732 at St Helens, Cockburnspath in Berwickshire, and grew up in ...

of 1774, a

grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

& Son, London, of 1805 and a

by Arnold Dolmetsch, Haslemere, of 1925.

Family and early life

His father, John Fletcher, was a successful milliner with a shop in

Newington Causeway __NOTOC__ Newington Causeway is a road in Southwark, London, between the Elephant and Castle and Borough High Street. Elephant & Castle Underground station is at the southern end. It follows the route of the old Roman road Stane Street. In 19 ...

, Southwark. He married Emily Bush, the daughter of John Bush, a builder from

Blackfriars, London Blackfriars is in central London, specifically the south-west corner of the City of London. Blackfriars Priory The name is first visible today in records of 1317 in many orthographies. Friar evolved from la, frater as french: frère has, mea ...

. Benton Fletcher was the youngest of their four children. His father died in May 1874 when he was 7 and his mother died in June 1883, when he was 16. Emily Fletcher's estate was valued at £11,333. His eldest brother Sidney John Bush Fletcher became a stockbroker, his brother Percy George became an ironmonger with a shop at 58 High Street,

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of Bromley and Greenwich. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the ...

, and his sister Emily Jessie married a commercial traveller. His unusual third Christian name, Benton, by which he came to be known, was the surname of his grandmother Elizabeth Benton, who married Thomas Fletcher in 1817. His niece Margaret, daughter of Percy George Fletcher, became an early keyboard player. She married Alec Hodsdon, a noted maker of

. She gave a radio broadcast of music for the

two months before Benton Fletcher died in 1944. She also recorded on an LP music played on early keyboard instruments in the collection of the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Octavia Hill, Cadets, Social work

Red Cross Hall and Red Cross cottages no 6 and 5JPG

Octavia Hill, the social reformer, a moving force behind the development of social housing and a founder of the

, exerted a strong influence on Benton Fletcher. In 1889 she pioneered the Cadet movement in South London as a means of improving the social conditions of working-class boys.

Elijah Hoole Elijah Hoole (1798–1872) was an English orientalist and Wesleyan Methodist missionary. Life The son of Holland Hoole, a Manchester shoemaker, he was born there; he entered Manchester grammar school 6 April 1809, leaving in 1813 to help in h ...

, an Arts and Crafts movement architect, built the Cadets' Drill Hall, Red Cross Hall, which was decorated by

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

, with painted panels of scenes of working class heroism, adjacent to Redcross Cottages and Red Cross Garden, Southwark. Red Cross Hall was also used for concerts, including a yearly performance of Handel's "Messiah". Benton Fletcher joined the Cadets as a junior officer in 1890 and lived in no 5 Red Cross Cottages in this street of social housing, two doors from the Red Cross Drill Hall. A letter from Octavia Hill in Jan 1891 expressed her approval of the physical and moral training of the cadets by "the gentlemen who are its officers", and mentions that "the band attached to the cadet corps has been taught by Mr Fletcher". Another letter dated February 1892 mentions "the present the working men's carving class have made... a beautiful clock case, carved by themselves and designed by Mr Fletcher". Later, in 1931, in a letter to Samuel Hield Hamer, (Secretary of the

, 1911–34) about his scheme for giving his property and musical instrument collection to the

, Benton Fletcher wrote: "it embraces education, pleasure and philanthropy, &, would I feel confident have appealed strongly to the late Octavia Hill and her sisters whose efforts to encourage the love and performance of old music fostered the like desire in my own mind during the twelve years I lived in the slums of Southwark working with & for these farseeing pioneers."

Military career

Fletcher became an Honorary Second Lieutenant in the 1st Cadet Battalion,

Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

, on 22 March 1890. He served as an adjutant of the Cadet battalion from 1896 to 1903. He joined the 3rd (

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

) Battalion,

Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to ...

with a commission of Second Lieutenant on 11 February 1891, and was promoted to Lieutenant on 22 March 1893, to Captain on 24 April 1895 and to Major on 4 January 1905. When the Militia was disbanded in 1908, he joined the new Special Reserve of Officers, resigning in 1909. He joined up for active service in the

in 1900 in the 1st Battalion of the

South Lancashire Regiment The South Lancashire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment, which recruited, as its title suggests, primarily from the South Lancashire area, was created as part of the Childers Re ...

and was gazetted to the Staff as a Railway Staff Officer in August 1900. He served on the Elandsfontein to

Standerton Standerton is a large commercial and agricultural town lying on the banks of the Vaal River in Mpumalanga, South Africa, which specialises in cattle, dairy, maize and poultry farming. The town was established in 1876 and named after Boer leader Co ...

line in the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

from December 1900 until October 1901 when he was invalided back to England. He received the Queen's South Africa Medal "with three clasps". At the outbreak of the

he joined up, serving as a Recruiting Officer on 7 October 1914 and became a Railway Transport Officer on 12 October 1915, serving at

Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...

until 1920.

Egypt, Flinders Petrie, and Temple discovery in Abydos

He assisted as an artist drawing finds in

during the winter excavation seasons from 1903–1914. He can be documented as being in

Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and ana ...

camps in Beit Meir with Aylward Blackman,Blackman, Aylward. "Luxor and its Temples" illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher A & C Black 1923 Abydos with Edouard Naville and

Thomas Eric Peet Thomas Eric Peet (12 August 1882, Liverpool – 22 February 1934, Oxford) was an English Egyptologist. Biography Thomas Eric Peet (professionally he used the form T. Eric Peet) was the son of Thomas and Salome Peet. He was educated at Merchant ...

and Meydum where he first met

. Petrie thought well of Benton Fletcher, writing to his wife Hilda on Christmas Eve 1909: "Fletcher has been here ten days or so; he can draw very well, has painted much the last three years in Egypt with fine colouring, and he has taken keenly to all our pot and vase drawing. He is a thorough gentleman, accustomed to good society, and has done much on boy's clubs and living about the East End. I much hope to keep him about our camp in future". Benton Fletcher's Who's Who entry says: "Discovered single handed, Temple of Seti 1. Abydos, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York". This can be substantiated by an editorial and a cover drawing by Benton Fletcher for the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. Seti 1, who reigned from 1290-1279 BC, built this temple to honour his father, Ramesses 1, including fine bas-relief sculptures of himself and his father, who founded the successful nineteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt but reigned for only two years from 1292–1290 BC. An account of the strange acquisition and restoration of these subsequently damaged reliefs by

John Pierpont Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became kno ...

(1837–1913) and Dikran Kelekian (1868–1951) for the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York, is given by Herbert Winlock.

Musical connections

He had close connections with composers from the first decade of the 20th century, especially with

Roger Quilter Roger Cuthbert Quilter (1 November 1877 – 21 September 1953) was a British composer, known particularly for his art songs. His songs, which number over a hundred, often set music to text by William Shakespeare and are a mainstay of the E ...

and

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

. In 1906-8 he met Delius,

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

, Grieg and Sinding while sharing a house in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, 14 Upper Cheyne Walk, with the pianist and composer

and Grainger's mother Rose, He was nursed at

Bawdsey Manor Bawdsey Manor stands at a prominent position at the mouth of the River Deben close to the village of Bawdsey in Suffolk, England, about northeast of London. Built in 1886, it was enlarged in 1895 as the principal residence of Sir William C ...

, the Quilter's family home after returning ill from

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

in 1907 and later accompanied

and his parents on a holiday tour in 1908-9, staying with them in

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; scn, Taurmina) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on ...

, and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Painting, exhibitions, drawings

Benton Fletcher had become Secretary of the Amateur Art Society by 1898. An exhibition of his watercolour paintings and drawings of Egypt was held at the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

New Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the ...

in June and July 1914. Two paintings shown at this exhibition, Pyramids at Sunset in watercolour and Menmare Seti in pink watercolour, are in the collection of the

Victoria and Albert museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Ronald Storrs Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs (19 November 1881 – 1 November 1955) was an official in the British Foreign and Colonial Office. He served as Oriental Secretary in Cairo, Military Governor of Jerusalem, Governor of Cyprus, and Governor of No ...

, the Governor of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, opened an exhibition in Grosvenor Square in 1922 of his drawings of

which was also shown in

and Bath. A black chalk drawing of the Dome of the Rock, from the

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jeru ...

, can be seen on-line in the

. Others were published in his book "Jerusalem", written by

Lionel Cust Sir Lionel Henry Cust (25 January 1859 – 12 October 1929) was a British art historian, courtier and museum director. He was director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1895 to 1909 and co-edited ''The Burlington Magazine'' from 1909 to 191 ...

. Field Marshal

Edmund Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...

in 1930 opened an exhibition of his drawings of "Royal Homes near London". He held an exhibition of drawings of places associated with the tercentenary of Samuel Pepys birth in 1933 in his house at 6 Buckingham Place. Fenton House contains a drawing by him of 3 Cheyne Walk, a painting of

Rye Harbour Rye Harbour is a village located on the East Sussex coast in southeast England, near the estuary of the River Rother: it is part of the civil parish of Icklesham and the Rother district. Rye Harbour is located some two miles (3.2 km) down ...

, and a view of St Paul's Cathedral from the South Bank.

Books and Illustrations

He produced illustrations for at least 15 books, mostly travel books or travel-guides.Cust, Lionel. "Jerusalem a Historical Sketch" illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher A & C Black (1924) Three prolific travel writers used his illustrations: Norma Lorimer, Mrs Steuart Erskine and

Douglas Sladen Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen (5 February 1856, London-12 February 1947, Hove) was an English author and academic. Life Educated at Temple Grove School, East Sheen, Cheltenham College, and Trinity College, Oxford, in 1879 Sladen migrated to ...

, editor of Who's Who. Douglas Sladen and Norma Lorimer also wrote novels set in Egypt while Katherine Cockburn wrote a novel set in

which Benton Fletcher also illustrated. Some of his book illustrations were in colour, but most were pencil or red crayon drawings. One book, "Arabia; Peeps at many Lands", was in an illustrated children's series published by A & C Black. He was able to commission authoritative writers to write texts around a group of his drawings. Sir Lionel Cust, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, wrote the text for Jerusalem and Aylward Blackman, an Egyptologist funded by the Egyptian Exploration Society wrote the text to the book on

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

, with both authors acknowledging Benton Fletcher for initiating the enterprise. Benton Fletcher wrote the text as well as producing drawings for one book "Royal Homes Near London".

His purchase and gift of houses to the National Trust

He bought 6 Buckingham Street (now Buckingham Place) SW1 in 1913, Cobham Hall with two adjacent cottages in about 1916 and

in 1934. As his collection of keyboard instruments grew, and his desire to develop a music centre around them, he housed the instruments in

Lord Leighton Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subje ...

's former studio in

Leighton House The Leighton House Museum is an art museum in the Holland Park area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. The building was the London home of painter Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (1830–1896), who commi ...

(1932–34). In 1934, he bought, restored and furnished

, built in 1668 for

William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, KB, FRS (c. 10 October 161723 November 1684) was an English nobleman and politician, known as a royalist supporter. Life The eldest son of William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire and his wife Christi ...

, transferring his collection to this historic building to form a centre for early music. The National Trust had become interested in acquiring and protecting properties of historic interest as expressed in the 1937 National Trust Act. Benton Fletcher was an early donor under this scheme, donating Old Devonshire House,

to the

, with Cedars House Hotel and the other properties at Cobham, Surrey, adjacent to Cobham Mill and 6 Buckingham Place, SW1 in November 1937, as well as his collection of instruments and other items. "The income arising from the Cobham and Buckingham Place properties will be used partly to ensure the carrying on at Old Devonshire House of the centre started there by Major Benton Fletcher for the special study and performance of works of older English Composers". The terms of the gift were such that Benton Fletcher was able to continue to live at Old Devonshire House for the rest of his life. Following the destruction of Old Devonshire House in 1941, he found and purchased 3 Cheyne Walk, with the National Trust's approval: "With generous help from Major Fletcher, the Trust has been able to buy 3 Cheyne Walk",

for the exhibition of his instrument collection. His collection was moved to Fenton House, Hampstead in 1952.

Death

His sudden and lonely death aged 78 at 3 Cheyne Walk on an unusually cold 31 December 1944 hunched in rigor mortis in his bed with a burnt out pan on an electric ring, was dramatically described by

James Lees-Milne (George) James Henry Lees-Milne (6 August 1908 – 28 December 1997) was an English writer and expert on country houses, who worked for the National Trust from 1936 to 1973. He was an architectural historian, novelist and biographer. His extensi ...

in his diary: "Give me V2s every minute rather than a repetition of this experience". He was buried in Brompton Cemetery. A nephew by marriage, probably Alec Hodsdon, was the only member of his family to attend his funeral, the three others present being

and Donald MacLeod Matheson, the Secretary of the

and the executor of his will. He left £47,783. His will provided for the endowment of a centre for the study of early keyboard and chamber music at the discretion of the

Conclusion

Major Benton Fletcher pioneered the idea of preserving early keyboard instruments so that they can be played and heard in surroundings of the right period. He was unusually enthusiastic that amateurs, students and professionals should all be encouraged to play original instruments. He saw

and the collection as a living museum, and wished to establish it on a permanent basis by his gift to the

. He understood the value to performers of exploring the physical characteristics of the instruments and that performers and listeners alike responded to the distinctive sound. He expressed the view that the music of Handel and

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

was not improved when performed on modern pianos and was disparaging about the lack of sonority of 20th century revival harpsichords.Fletcher, Benton "Improving Handel" Times ondon, England27 August 1932:6. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 January 2015 The

tries to maintain a balance between the preservation of the instruments and their use.

References

External links

Catalogue of the collection
(including the CD of music played on the instruments)
''Luxor & its Temples – Illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher''''The Story of Naples – Illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher'''A Handel Museum', by Benton Fletcher
''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'', April 1937, page 357 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Benton 1866 births 1944 deaths English archaeologists English musicologists Collectors from London British Militia officers British Army General List officers Army Cadet Force officers Queen's Royal Regiment officers Sherwood Foresters officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I