Editing Edward White Benson (section)

== Personal life ==
Benson [[cousin marriage|married his second cousin]] [[Mary Sidgwick Benson|Mary (Minnie) Sidgwick]], the sister of philosopher [[Henry Sidgwick|Henry]], when she was 18, having proposed to her when she was 12 and he was 24. The couple had six children. Benson also supervised the education of his younger sister [[Ada Benson]] who was left an orphan in 1852.<ref name=sis>{{cite odnb |first=Ruth |last=Pryor |title=Benson, Ada (1840–1882) |id=48641}}</ref>

Their fifth child was the novelist [[Edward Frederic Benson]], best remembered for his ''[[Mapp and Lucia (novel series)|Mapp and Lucia]]'' novels. Another son was [[Arthur Christopher Benson]], the author of the lyrics to [[Elgar]]'s "[[Land of Hope and Glory]]" and master of [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]]. Their sixth and youngest child, [[Robert Hugh Benson]], became a priest in the Church of England before converting to [[Catholicism]] and writing many popular novels. Their daughter, [[Margaret Benson]], was an artist, author and [[Egyptologist]]. None of the children married; and some appeared to suffer from mental illnesses, possibly [[bipolar disorder]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2011/07/the-gay-lambeth-way/ |first=Jane |last=Ridley |title=The gay Lambeth way" (review of Rodney Bolt, ''As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil: The Impossible Life of Mary Benson'') |work=The Spectator |date=9 July 2011}}</ref>

After the archbishop's death, his widow set up household with Lucy Tait, daughter of the previous archbishop of Canterbury, [[Archibald Campbell Tait]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Vicinus |first=Martha |date=2004 |title=Intimate Friends: women who loved women (1778–1928) |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-85563-5}}</ref> A biography of Mary Benson, using her numerous letters, was published in 2011. It characterised her husband as living "a life of relentless success".<ref name=bolt>{{cite book |first=Rodney |last=Bolt |title=As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil: The Impossible Life of Mary Benson |date=2011|publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |isbn=9781843548614}}</ref>

Edward Benson's aunt, his father's maternal half-sister, was the botanical illustrator [[Mary Ann Jackson (illustrator)|Mary Ann Jackson]].<ref name="CC">{{cite web |title=Romantic Interests: Miss Jackson's Rare "Pictorial Flora" |first=Charles |last=Cuykendall Carter |url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/06/15/rare-book-miss-jackson-pictorial-flora |publisher=The [[New York Public Library]] |access-date=8 March 2023 }}</ref>