Arthur Christopher Benson, (24 April 1862 – 17 June 1925) was an English essayist, poet and academic, who served as the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He wrote the lyrics of

Edward 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 ...

's ''

Coronation Ode ''Coronation Ode'', Op. 44 is a work composed by Edward 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 ...

'', including the words of the patriotic song "

Land of Hope and Glory "Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar, written in 1901 and with lyrics by A. C. Benson added in 1902. Composition The music to which the words of the refrain 'Land of Hope and Glory, &c' below ...

" (1902). His literary criticism, poems, and volumes of essays were highly regarded. He was also noted as an author of ghost stories.

Early life and family

Benson was born on 24 April 1862 at

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a co-educational public school providing education for boarding and day pupils in the village of Crowthorne, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,100 pu ...

, as one of six children of Edward White Benson (1829–1896), the first headmaster of the college, who would later be

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

from 1883 to 1896. His mother, Mary Sidgwick Benson, was a sister of the philosopher

Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English Utilitarianism, utilitarian philosopher and economist and is best known in philosophy for his utilitarian treatise ''The Methods of Ethics''. His work in economics has also had a ...

. Benson's literary family included his brothers Edward Frederic Benson, best remembered for his ''

Mapp and Lucia ''Mapp and Lucia'' is a 1931 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the fourth of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia (novel series), Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over the ...

'' novels, and

Robert Hugh Benson Robert Hugh Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was an English Catholic priest and writer. First an Anglican priest, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1903 and ordained therein the next year. He wa ...

, a priest of the Church of England before converting to Roman Catholicism, who wrote many popular novels. Their sister Margaret Benson was an artist, author, and amateur

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

. Though exceptionally accomplished, the Benson family met tragic times: a son and daughter died young, while another daughter and Arthur himself suffered from a mental condition that may have been

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, seemingly inherited from their father. None of the children married. Despite his illness, Arthur was to become a distinguished academic and a prolific author. From ages 10 to 21, he lived in cathedral closes, first at Lincoln where his father was Chancellor of

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

, and then at

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

, where his father was the first Bishop of Truro. He retained a love of church music and ceremony. In 1874, he won a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

to Eton from Temple Grove School, a preparatory school in

East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long High Street, high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic ...

. In 1881, he went up to

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, where he was a scholar (King's College had closed scholarships for which only Etonians were eligible) and achieved first-class honours in the Classical

tripos TRIPOS (''TRIvial Portable Operating System'') is a computer operating system. Development started in 1976 at the Computer Laboratory of Cambridge University and it was headed by Dr. Martin Richards. The first version appeared in January 1978 a ...

in 1884.

Career

From 1885 to 1903, Benson taught at Eton, but he returned to Cambridge in 1904 as a Fellow of

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

to lecture in English Literature. He became president of the college (the Master's deputy) in 1912, and he was Master of Magdalene (head of the college) from December 1915 until his death in 1925. From 1906, he was a governor of

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

. The modern development of Magdalene was shaped by Benson, as a generous benefactor with a marked impact on the appearance of the college grounds; he appears in at least 20 inscriptions around the college. In 1930, the new Benson Court was named after him.The colleges and halls – Magdalene
– British History Online. Retrieved 30 March 2010. Benson worked with Lord Esher in editing the correspondence of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, which appeared in 1907. His poems and essay volumes, such as ''From a College Window'' and ''The Upton Letters'' (essays in the form of letters) were famous in his time; and he left one of the longest diaries ever written: some four million words. His literary criticisms of

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

, Edward FitzGerald,

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, Art critic, art and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of t ...

and

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

rank among his best work. Benson wrote the lyrics of the ''

'', set to music by

for the

coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra The coronation of Edward VII and his wife, Alexandra, as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 9 August 1902. Originally scheduled for 26 June of that year, the ceremony h ...

in 1902. It has as its finale one of Britain's best-known patriotic songs, "

Ghost stories

Like his brothers Edward Frederic and Robert Hugh, Benson was noted as an author of ghost stories. The bulk of them, in two volumes, ''The Hill of Trouble and Other Stories'' (1903) and ''The Isles of Sunset'' (1904), were written for his pupils as moral allegories. After Arthur's death, Fred Benson found a collection of unpublished ghost stories and included two in a book, ''Basil Netherby'' (1927). The title story was renamed "House at Treheale" and the volume completed by a long piece, "The Uttermost Farthing", but the fate of the other stories is unknown. ''Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories'' (1911, reprinted 1977) collects the contents of ''The Hill of Trouble and Other Stories'' and ''The Isles of Sunset''. Nine of Arthur's ghost stories are included in David Stuart Davies (ed.), ''The Temple of Death: The Ghost Stories of A. C. & R. H. Benson'' (Wordsworth, 2007), together with seven by his brother R. H. Benson, while nine of Arthur's and ten of Robert's appear in ''Ghosts in the House'' (Ash-Tree, 1996) – the contents of the joint collections are similar but not identical.

Views

In ''The Schoolmaster'', Benson summarised his views on education after 18 years' experience at Eton. He criticised a trend he found prevalent in English public schools, to "make the boys good and to make them healthy" to the detriment of their intellectual development. A Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

, he founded the Benson Medal in 1916 "in respect of meritorious works in poetry, fiction, history and belles lettres".

Death

A. C. Benson died of a cardiac arrest at Magdalene, and was buried at St Giles's Cemetery in Cambridge.

Critical reception

Horror critic R. S. Hadji included Benson's ''Basil Netherby'' on a list of "unjustly neglected" horror books. Sir

Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a Cornish people, British writer who published using the pen name, pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication ''The Oxfor ...

included Benson's poem "The Phoenix" in the first and second editions of ''The'' ''Oxford Book of English Verse''.

Works

*''Men of Might: Studies of Great Characters'', with H. F. W. Tatham, 1892 *''Le Cahier Jaune: Poems'', 1892 *''Poems'', 1893 *''Genealogy of the Family of Benson of Banger House and Northwoods, in the Parish of Ripon and Chapelry of Pateley Bridge'', 1894 *''Lyrics'', 1895 *''Lord Vyet & Other Poems'', 1898 *''Ode in Memory of the Rt. Honble. William Ewart Gladstone'', 1898 *''Thomas Gray'', 1895 *''Essays'', 1896. *''Fasti Etonenses: A Biographical History of Eton'', 1899 *''The Professor: and Other Poems'', 1900 *''The Schoolmaster'', 1902 *''The Hill of Trouble and Other Stories'', 1903 *''The Isles of Sunset'', 1904 *(as editor) ''Ionica'' by William Cory, 3rd edition, 1905 *''Peace: and Other Poems'', 1905 *''The Upton Letters'', 1905 *''The Gate of Death: A Diary'', 1906 *''From a College Window'', 1906 *''Monnow: An Ode'', 1906 *''Rossetti'', 1906 *''Walter Pater'', 1906 *''The Thread of Gold'', 1907 *''Memoirs of Arthur Hamilton'', 1907 *''The House of Quiet: An Autobiography'', 1907 *''The Altar Fire'', 1907 *''The Letters of One, a Study in Limitations'', 1907 *''Beside Still Waters'', 1908 *''At Large'', 1908 *''Tennyson'', 1908 *''Until the Evening'', 1909 *''The Poems of A. C. Benson'', 1909 *''The Child of the Dawn'', 1911 *''Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories'', 1911 *''The Leaves of the Tree: Studies in Biography'', 1911 *''Ruskin: A Study in Personality'', 1911 *''The Letters of Queen Victoria'', 1907 *''Thy Rod and Thy Staff'', 1912 *''The Beauty of Life: Being Selections from the Writings of Arthur Christopher Benson'', 1912 *''Joyous Gard'', 1913 *''The Silent Isle'', 1913 *''Along the Road'', 1913 *''Where No Fear Was: A Book About Fear'', 1914 *''The Orchard Pavilion'', 1914 *''Escape and Other Essays'', 1916 *''Meanwhile; A Packet of War Letters'', 1916 *''Father Payne'', 1917 *''Life and Letters of Maggie Benson'', 1920 *''Watersprings'', 1920 *''Hugh: Memoirs of a Brother'', 1920 *''The Reed of Pan; English Renderings of Greek Epigrams and Lyrics'', 1922 *''Magdalene College, Cambridge: A Little View of Its Buildings and History'', 1923 *''Selected Poems'', 1924 *''Chris Gascoyne; An Experiment in Solitude, from the Diaries of John Trevor'', 1924 *''Everybody's Book of the Queen's Dolls' House'', 1924 *''Memories and Friends'', 1924 *''Edward Fitzgerald'', 1925 *''The House of Menerdue'', 1925 *''Rambles and Reflections'', 1926 *''Basil Netherby'', 1926 *''The Diary of Arthur Christopher Benson'', 1926

Reviews of Benson's poetry

*"The Poetry of Mr. A. C. Benson", ''Sewanee Review, Volume 14'' (Sewanee: University of the South, 1906), 110–111, 405–421. *"Poets All", ''The Speaker, Volume 15'', 13 February 1897 (London), 196 *"Mr. Benson's Poems", ''The Literary World, Volume 48'', 3 November 1893 (London: James Clarke & Co.), 329 *"Selected Poetry of Arthur Christopher Benson" (1862–1925) *"A Literary Causerie" in ''The Speaker, Volume 15'', 13 March 1897 (London), 299

References

Citations

Sources

*A. C. Benson; David Newsome ed. (1981), ''Edwardian Excursions: From the Diaries of A. C. Benson 1898-1904'', London: John Murray *David Newsome (1980), ''On the Edge of Paradise: A. C. Benson the Diarist'', London: John Murray *Edward Hewish Ryle (1925), ''Arthur Christopher Benson as Seen by Some Friends'', London: G. Bell and Sons * *Keith Wilson (1990), "A. C. Benson," Robert Beum, ed., ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Essayists, 1880–1960.'' Detroit: Gale, 192–204.

External links

* * * *
Works by A.C. Benson
at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

Essays by Arthur Benson
a
Quotidiana.org
* *
Benson, Arthur Christopher (1862–1925)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Arthur Christopher 1862 births 1925 deaths 19th-century English biographers 19th-century English essayists 20th-century English essayists 19th-century English poets 20th-century English poets 20th-century English diarists 20th-century English short story writers People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Masters of Magdalene College, Cambridge Anglican writers English horror writers British ghost story writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Temple Grove School English male essayists English male poets Councillors in Cambridgeshire AC People with bipolar disorder English genealogists