Benjamin Parsons Symons (28 January 1785 – 12 April 1878) was an academic administrator at the University of Oxford in England.

Life

Benjamin Symons was born in Cheddar, Somerset, the son of John Symons of Cheddar. He was educated at Sherborne School and matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, on 2 February 1802, where he was admitted as a scholar on 25 October 1803. He graduated with a BA degree on 14 October 1805 and received an MA degree on 7 July 1810. Symons was elected a Probationer Fellow at Wadham College on 30 June 1811 and was admitted as a Fellow on 2 July 1812. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

on 22 April 1819. He was bursar of the College from 1814 to 1823, after which he became sub-warden. On 23 January 1831 he obtained the degree of

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

and on 16 June of that year he was elected Warden of the College. He was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1844 to 1848. He resigned the wardenship on 18 October 1871, but continued to reside in Oxford until his death in 1878. Symons did not follow the high-church Anglican

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

prevalent at Oxford, and was regarded as the leader of the evangelical wing in later life. He was buried in the ante-chapel at Wadham College and bequeathed £1,000 to the College to establish an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

. His portrait was hung in the College hall.

Life

References

Further reading