Editing Edward White Benson

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury (1829–1896)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|size=100%|MRevd|&RHPC}}
| name = Edward White Benson
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| image = Reminiscences of bishops and archbishops (1906) (14804163333).jpg
| imagesize = 
| alt = 
| caption = Archbishop Benson, {{circa|1890s}}
| province = 
| church = [[Church of England]]
| appointed = 21 December 1882
| diocese = [[Diocese of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
| see = 
| enthroned = 29 March 1883
| ended = 11 October 1896
| predecessor = [[Archibald Campbell Tait]]
| successor = [[Frederick Temple]]
| ordination = 1853 (as deacon)<br>by [[James Prince Lee]]<br>1857 (as priest)
| ordained_by = [[Thomas Turton]]
| consecration = 25 April 1877
| consecrated_by = [[Archibald Campbell Tait]]
| other_post = 
| birth_name = Edward White Benson
| birth_date = 14 July 1829
| birth_place = [[Highgate, Birmingham|Birmingham]], [[Warwickshire]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1896|10|11|1829|7|14}}
| death_place = [[Hawarden]], [[Flintshire]], Wales
| buried = [[Canterbury Cathedral]]
| religion = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]]
| residence = 
| parents = Edward White Benson Sr. & Harriet Baker Benson
| spouse = [[Mary Benson (hostess)|Mary (Minnie) Sidgwick]]
| children = 6
| occupation = 
| profession = 
| previous_post = [[Bishop of Truro]] <small>''(1877–1883)''</small>
| alma_mater = 
| signature = Edward White Benson Signature.svg
| feast_day = 
| venerated = 
| saint_title = 
| beatified_date = 
| beatified_place = 
| beatified_by = 
| canonized_date = 
| canonized_place = 
| canonized_by = 
| attributes = 
| patronage = 
| shrine = 
| suppressed_date = 
| education = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
}}{{Portal|Christianity|Cornwall}}
'''Edward White Benson''' (14 July 1829 – 11 October 1896) was [[archbishop of Canterbury]] from 1883 until his death. Before this, he was the first [[Bishop of Truro]], serving from 1877 to 1883, and began construction of [[Truro Cathedral]].

He was previously a schoolmaster and was the first Master of [[Wellington College, Berkshire|Wellington College]] from 1859 to 1872.

== Life ==
Edward White Benson was born at Lombard Street in [[Highgate, Birmingham]], on 14 July 1829, the eldest of eight children of chemical manufacturer Edward White Benson senior (26 August 1802 – 7 February 1843) and his wife Harriet Baker Benson (13 June 1805 – 29 May 1850).<ref name="Mark D. Chapman 1896">{{cite odnb |first=Mark D. |last=Chapman |title=Benson, Edward White (1829–1896) |id=2139}}</ref> He was baptised in [[St Martin in the Bull Ring]], Birmingham, on 31 March 1830. The family moved to [[Wychbold]] when his father became manager of the British Alkali Works at [[Stoke Prior, Worcestershire]].

From 1840, he was educated at [[King Edward's School, Birmingham]] and then [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he graduated BA (8th in the [[Classical tripos]]) in 1852.<ref>{{acad|id=BN848EW|name=Benson, Edward White}}</ref> At King Edward's, under [[James Prince Lee]], Benson "manifested a deeply religious tone of mind and was fond of sermons".<ref name=carr>{{cite book |first=James Anderson |last=Carr |title=Life-work of Edward White Benson, D.D.: Sometime Archbishop of Canterbury |publisher=Elliot Stock |date=1898}}</ref>{{rp|7–8}}

===Cambridge Ghost Society===

The Cambridge Association for Spiritual Inquiry, known informally as the Cambridge Ghost Society or the Ghostlie Guild, was founded by Benson and [[Brooke Foss Westcott]] in 1851 at Trinity College.<ref name="Oppenheim1985">{{cite book|last=Oppenheim|first=Janet |author-link=Janet Oppenheim|title=The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tppgQgAACAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26505-8|pages=68, 123}}</ref><ref name="Byrne2010">{{cite book|last=Byrne|first=Georgina |title=Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England, 1850-1939|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tN0sghhm79oC&pg=PA50|year=2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-84383-589-9|pages=50–51}}</ref> Westcott worked as its secretary until 1860.<ref name="Broad2014">{{cite book|last=Broad|first=C.D. |author-link=C.D. Broad|title=Religion, Philosophy and Psychical Research: Selected Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOvgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA86|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-83006-1|page=86}}</ref> The society collected and investigated reports of [[ghosts]]. Other notable members included [[Alfred Barry]] and [[Henry Sidgwick]].<ref name="Oppenheim1985" /> It has been described as a predecessor of the [[Society for Psychical Research]].<ref name="Oppenheim1985" /><ref name="McCorristine2010">{{cite book|last=McCorristine|first=Shane |title=Spectres of the Self: Thinking about Ghosts and Ghost-Seeing in England, 1750–1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uKJCIUTZd4C&pg=PA103|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-76798-9|page=103}}</ref> According to the ''[[Notebooks of Henry James]]'', his source for the novella ''[[The Turn of the Screw]]'' was the Archbishop of Canterbury (i.e. Benson) at [[Addington Palace]] on 10 January 1895.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.3343/page/n5 The Notebooks of Henry James], edited by F.O. Matthiessen and Kenneth B. Murdock, published George Braziller Inc, New York, 1955</ref>

===Schoolmaster at Rugby and Wellington===

Benson began his career as a schoolmaster at [[Rugby School]] in 1852, and was ordained deacon in 1853 and priest in 1857. In 1859 Benson was chosen by [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Prince Albert]] as the first Master of [[Wellington College (Berkshire)|Wellington College]], Berkshire, which had recently been built as the nation's memorial to the [[Duke of Wellington]]. Benson was largely responsible for establishing Wellington as a leading [[Public school (UK)|public school]], closely modelled upon Rugby School.<ref name="Mark D. Chapman 1896"/>

===Lincoln and Truro===
[[File:FoundingTruroCathedral.jpg|thumb|left|A stained glass window depicting the foundation of [[Truro Cathedral]]]]
From 1872 to 1877, he was [[Chancellor (ecclesiastical)|Chancellor]] of [[Lincoln Cathedral]]. In 1874, he set up [[Lincoln Theological College]].

He was appointed the first [[Bishop of Truro]], where he served from 1877 to 1882. He was consecrated bishop by [[Archibald Campbell Tait]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], on [[St Mark]]'s day, 25 April 1877 at [[St Paul's Cathedral]].<ref>{{Church Times | title = Consecration of the Bishop of Truro | archive = 1877_04_27_245 | issue = 744 | date = 27 April 1877 | page = 245 | accessed = 26 December 2016 }}</ref>
The [[Diocese of Truro]] was established in December 1876.  Construction of [[Truro Cathedral]] began in 1880 to a design by the [[Gothic Revival]] architect [[John Loughborough Pearson]].  From 24 October 1880 until 1887 a temporary wooden building on an adjacent site [[Pro-cathedral|served as the cathedral]]. As archbishop, Benson consecrated the cathedral on 3 November 1887.

He founded [[Truro High School for Girls]] in 1880.<ref>{{cite book |first=Amy Key |last=Clarke |author-link=Amy Key Clarke |title=The Story of Truro High School, the Benson Foundation |location=Truro |publisher=Oscar Blackford |date=1979}}</ref>

===Archbishop of Canterbury, 1883–1896===
[[Image:Edward White Benson.jpg|thumb|150px|Archbishop Benson]]
In 1883 he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

Five years later Benson avoided [[Edward King (Bishop of Lincoln)|Edward King]], [[Bishop of Lincoln]], being prosecuted before a lay tribunal under the [[Public Worship Regulation Act 1874]] for six [[Ritualism in the Church of England|ritual offences]] by hearing the case in his own archiepiscopal court (inactive since 1699).<ref name=chad>{{cite book |first=Owen |last=Chadwick |title=The Victorian Church (Part 2) |publisher=Adam & Charles Black |date=1980 }}</ref>{{rp|354}} In his judgement (often called "the Lincoln Judgement"), he found against the bishop on two points, with a proviso as to a third that when performing the manual acts during the prayer of consecration in the Holy Communion service, the priest must stand in a way that is visible to the people.<ref name=dic/>

Benson tried to amalgamate the two [[Convocation of the English Clergy|Convocations]] and the new houses of laity into a single assembly.  In 1896 it was established that they could 'unofficially' meet together.{{r|chad|page1=365}}

In September of the same year, the [[papal bull]] ''[[Apostolicae curae]]'', which denied the validity of Anglican orders, was published and Benson had started a reply. He preached his last sermon at [[St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland)|St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh]] on 27 September: there is a memorial to him in the north aisle there.<ref>"Funary Monuments & Memorials in St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh" Curl, J.S. pp56-57: Whitstable; Historical Publications; 2013 {{ISBN|978-1-905286-48-5}}</ref> He was taken ill while attending Sunday service in [[St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden|St Deiniol's Church]], [[Hawarden]], Wales, on 11 October 1896, during a visit to the former Prime Minister, [[William Ewart Gladstone]]. His death was attributed to [[heart failure]]. Three days later his body was put on the train at [[Sandycroft railway station|Sandycroft station]] to be returned to [[London]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/PDFFiles/Records-and-Archives/Brief-History,-Part-Two,-ENGLISH.pdf|title=Death of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Hawarden Rectory | website=Brief History |page=19| publisher=Flintshire County Council}}</ref>

He was buried at [[Canterbury Cathedral]], in a magnificent tomb located at the western end of the nave. The tomb is emblazoned with the epitaph Benson had chosen: ''Miserere mei Deus Per crucem et passionem tuam libera me Christe'' ("Have mercy on me O Christ our God, Through Thy Cross and Passion, deliver thou me").<ref>[https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM102FP_Tomb_Archbishop_Edward_White_Benson_Canterbury_Cathedral_Canterbury_Kent_UK Waymarking.com]</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Augustus Blair |last=Donaldson |title=The Bishopric of Truro: the First Twenty-five Years, 1877–1902 |url=https://archive.org/details/bishopricoftruro00dona |location=London |publisher=Rivingtons |date=1902 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bishopricoftruro00dona/page/n230 191]}}</ref>

His work concerning Saint [[Cyprian]], ''Cyprian: his life, his times, his work'',{{sfn|Benson|1897}} was published posthumously, in the year after his death.<ref name=dic>{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Cross |editor1-first=Frank Leslie|editor2-last=Livingstone |editor2-first=Elizabeth A.|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005 |edition=3rd |title=Benson, Edward White |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA190|page=190|isbn=9780192802903}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Order of Service for Nine Lessons and Carols 1880.JPG|thumb|upright|Order of Service for the first Nine Lessons and Carols in 1880 on display in [[Truro Cathedral]]]]
Benson is best remembered for devising the Festival of [[Nine Lessons and Carols]], an order first used in [[Truro Cathedral]] on Christmas Eve, 1880. Considerably revised by [[Eric Milner-White]] for [[King's College, Cambridge]], this service is now broadcast every Christmas around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/carols_ninelessonsandcarols.shtml|title=The History of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols |website=whychristmas.com }}</ref>

Benson was the founder of the Church of England Purity Society,<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Church of England Purity Society |title=The Official Year-book of the Church of England |location=London |publisher=SPCK |date=1884 |page=126}}</ref> an organisation which later merged with the [[White Cross Army]]. [[Alfred Ryder (Royal Navy officer)|Alfred Ryder]] served as a trustee of the organisation.<ref>{{cite book |first=Elizabeth |last=Prettejohn |title=After the Pre-Raphaelites: Art and Aestheticism in Victorian England |publisher=Manchester University Press |date=1999 |isbn=9780719054068|page=228}}</ref>

Benson told [[Henry James]] a simple, rather inexpert story he had heard about the ghosts of evil servants who tried to lure young children to their deaths. James recorded the idea in his ''[[Notebooks of Henry James|Notebooks]]'' and eventually used it as the starting-point for his classic [[ghost story]], ''[[The Turn of the Screw]]''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Tessa |last=Hadey |title=Henry James and the Imagination of Pleasure |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2002 |page=186 |isbn=9780521811699}}</ref>
[[File:St.Mary's pulpit - geograph.org.uk - 356000.jpg|thumb|150px|Pulpit in Lincoln Cathedral commemorating Archbishop Benson]]
[[File:Eglwys St Deiniol's Church Penarlag Hawarden Flintshire Wales 09.JPG|thumb|150px|Memorial to Benson in Hawarden Church]]

The hymn "[[God Is Working His Purpose Out]]" was written by Arthur C. Ainger as a tribute to Benson as both were Masters at Eton and Rugby respectively.{{clarify|date=September 2018}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hymnary.org/text/god_is_working_his_purpose_out|title=God Is Working His Purpose Out|website=hymnary.org}}</ref>

In 1914, a [[House system|boarding house]] at [[Wellington College, Berkshire|Wellington College]] was named in his honour. Benson House carries the emblem of a blue [[Tudor Rose]], and is situated in its own corner of the college grounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/2429/school-life/houses/benson |title=The Benson |website=Wellington College |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120105308/http://www.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/2429/school-life/houses/benson |archive-date=20 January 2016}}</ref>

== 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>

==Ancestry==

The Benson family was of Scandinavian origin with the name of Bjornsen. The Bensons "emerge into history" as an English family in 1348 when John Benson held a "[[wikt:toft|toft]]" from the Abbey at [[Swinton, Harrogate|Swinton-by-Masham]] in Yorkshire.{{r|carr|page1=1–2}}

[[A. C. Benson|Arthur Christopher Benson]], the archbishop's son, wrote a genealogy of his family.<ref name=bens>{{cite book |first=Arthur Christopher |last=Benson |title=Genealogy of the Family of Benson of Banger House and Northwoods, in the Parish of Ripon and Chapelry of Pateley Bridge |location=Eton |publisher=George New |date=1894}}</ref> He found that "Old" Christopher Benson (born 1703) was the "real founder of the fortunes" of the Benson family having acquired a "good deal" of land. He also "established a large business."{{r|bens|page1=7–8}}<ref>Note that the above family tree gives "Old" Christopher Benson’s birth date as 1708.</ref>

Archbishop Edward White Benson's grandfather was Captain White Benson, of the 6th Regiment of Foot. The archbishop's seal and the Captain's coat of arms show their branch of the Benson family arms were blazoned: Argent, a quatrefoil between two trefoils slipped in bend sable, between four bendlets gules.<ref name="HowardCrisp1897">{{cite book|first1=Joseph Jackson |last1=Howard|first2=Frederick Arthur |last2=Crisp|title=Visitation of England and Wales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkxFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA122|year=1897|publisher=Priv. print.|pages=122–}}</ref>

The archbishop's father was Edward White Benson (born in York in 1802, died at Birmingham Heath in 1843). He was a Fellow of the Royal Botanical Society of Edinburgh and the author of books on education and religion.<ref name="HowardCrisp1897"/> He was also an inventor whose inventions made "considerable fortunes" for others, but not for him.{{sfn|Benson|1900a|pp=4–5}}

==Works==
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/boylifeitstrial00bensgoog|title=Boy-life, Its Trial, Its Strength, Its Fulness: Sundays in Wellington College, 1859–1873|location=London|publisher= Macmillan & Co.|date= 1883|first=Edward White |last=Benson|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/sevengifts00bensgoog |title=The Seven Gifts|location=London|publisher= Macmillan & Co.|date= 1885|first=Edward White |last=Benson|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j5K2swEACAAJ|title=Christ and His Times: Addressed to the Diocese of Canterbury in His Second Visitation|location=London|publisher= Macmillan & Co.|date= 1889|first=Edward White |last=Benson|isbn=9780428991159|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/livingtheohe00bensuoft|title=Living Theology|location=London|publisher= Sampson Low, Marston & Company|date= 1893|first=Edward White |last=Benson|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cyprianhislifehi00bensuoft|title=Cyprian: His Life, His Times, His Work|location=London|publisher= Macmillan & Co.|date=1897|first=Edward White |last=Benson|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/archbishopbenson00bernuoft |editor-first=J. H. |editor-last=Bernard|title=Archbishop Benson in Ireland: A Record of His Irish Sermons and Addresses 1896|location=London|publisher= Macmillan & Co.|date=1896|first=Edward White |last=Benson|display-authors=0}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924029295073|title=The Apocalypse,: An introductory Study of the Revelation of St. John the Divine|location=London|publisher= Macmillan & Co.|date=1900|first=Edward White |last=Benson|display-authors=0}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Benson, Edward White|volume=3}}
* {{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Benson, Edward White|first=Arthur James |last=Mason}}
* {{cite book|last=Prettejohn|first=Elizabeth|author-link=Elizabeth Prettejohn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2MKI9SN-hdUC&q=%22Alfred+P.+Ryder%22&pg=PA228 |title=After the Pre-Raphaelites|publisher= Manchester University Press|year=1999|isbn= 0-7190-5406-0}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ndM6AQAAMAAJ|first=James Anderson |last=Carr|title=Life-work of Edward White Benson, D.D.: Sometime Archbishop of Canterbury|publisher=Elliot Stock|date= 1898}}
* {{cite book|first=Rodney |last=Bolt|title=As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil: The Impossible Life of Mary Benson|date=2011}} Reprinted in paperback as {{cite book|first=Rodney |last=Bolt|title=The Impossible Life of Mary Benson: The Extraordinary Story of a Victorian Wife|date=2012|display-authors=0}}
* Gwen Watkins, ''E. F. Benson & His Family and Friends'' (2003)
* G. Palmer, N. Lloyd, ''Father of the Bensons'' (1998)
* David Williams, ''Genesis and Exodus: A Portrait of the Benson Family'' (1979)
* {{cite book |first=A. C. |last=Benson |title=The Life of Edward White Benson, Sometime Archbishop of Canterbury|volume= I |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |date=1900a |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qgDAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{cite book |first=A. C. |last=Benson |title=The Life of Edward White Benson, Sometime Archbishop of Canterbury|volume= II |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |date=1900b |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6gDAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-0hAQAAMAAJ|title=New American Supplement to the New Werner Edition of The Encyclopædia Britannica|volume=I|publisher=Werner Co.|date=1903|chapter=Benson, Edward White|page=422}}
* {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/genealogyfamily00bensgoog|first=Arthur Christopher |last=Benson|title=Genealogy of the Family of Benson of Banger House and Northwoods, in the Parish of Ripon and Chapelry of Pateley Bridge|location=Eton|publisher= George New|date= 1894}}
* {{cite book|author-link=Simon Goldhill|first=Simon|last= Goldhill|title=A Very Queer Family Indeed: Sex, Religion, and the Bensons in Victorian Britain |publisher=University of Chicago Press|date= 2016}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Edward White Benson}}
* [http://anglicanhistory.org/england/ewbenson/ Bibliographic directory] from [[Project Canterbury]]
* [http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=benson Archbishop Benson's papers are held at Lambeth Palace Library]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070520151530/http://www.birminghamnet.co.uk/galleries/features/blueplaque/benson.html BirminghamNet: Edward White Benson]
* [https://archive.org/details/cassellsuniversa00londiala/page/6/mode/1up?view=theater Entry on Archbishop Benson in ''Cassell's Universal Portrait Gallery'' (1895)]

{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|en}}
{{S-new|diocese}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Truro]]|years=1877–1883}}
{{S-aft|after=[[George Wilkinson (bishop)|George Wilkinson]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Archibald Campbell Tait]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]]|years=1883–1896}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Frederick Temple]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Bishops of Truro}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}

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