Robert Hugh Benson

Robert Hugh Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was an English Anglican priest who in 1903 was received into the Roman Catholic Church in which he was ordained priest in 1904. He was a prolific writer of fiction and wrote the notable dystopian novel Lord of the World (1907). His output encompassed historical, horror and science fiction, contemporary fiction, children's stories, plays, apologetics, devotional works and articles. He continued his writing career at the same time as he progressed through the hierarchy to become a Chamberlain to Pope Pius X in 1911 and gain the title of Monsignor.

The Reverend Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson
Photo of Benson by G. Jerrard, 1912
Born	Robert Hugh Benson 18 November 1871 Wellington College, Berkshire
Died	19 October 1914 (aged 42) Bishop's house Salford Cathedral, Salford
Parent(s)	Edward White Benson and Mary Sidgwick Benson
Church	Roman Catholic
Ordained	1904

Early life

Benson was the youngest son of Edward White Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury) and his wife, Mary, and the younger brother of Edward Frederic Benson and Arthur Christopher Benson.[1]

Benson was educated at Eton College and then studied classics and theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1890 to 1893.[2]

In 1895, Benson was ordained a priest in the Church of England by his father, who was the then Archbishop of Canterbury.

Career

Robert Hugh Benson in 1907

After his father died suddenly in 1896, Benson was sent on a trip to the Middle East to recover his own health. While there he began to question the status of the Church of England and to consider the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. His own piety began to tend toward the High Church tradition, and he started exploring religious life in various Anglican communities, eventually obtaining permission to join the Community of the Resurrection.

Benson made his profession as a member of the community in 1901, at which time he had no thoughts of leaving the Church of England. As he continued his studies and began writing, however, he became more and more uneasy with his own doctrinal position and, on 11 September 1903, he was received into the Catholic Church. Benson was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1904. As the son of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, his conversion and his subsequent ordination, caused a sensation.[3]

His first assignment was as a college chaplain. He had a stutter and is said to have had a 'reedy' voice. Benson was a popular preacher, attracting large audiences wherever he spoke. In 1914, he visited the University of Notre Dame and gave an address on the papacy. Both Confessions of a Convert (1913) and Lourdes (1914) were serialized in Notre Dame's Ave Maria magazine, before appearing as books.[4]

He was awarded the Dignitary of Honour of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Novelist

Benson continued his writing career along with his ministry as a priest. Like both his brothers, Edward Frederic Benson ("Fred") and Arthur Christopher Benson, Robert wrote many ghost and horror stories, as well as children's stories and historical fiction. His horror and ghost fiction are collected in The Light Invisible (1903) and A Mirror of Shallott (1907).[1] His novel, Lord of the World (1907), is generally regarded as one of the first modern dystopian novels.[1] In the speculative 2007 he predicted there, the Anglican Church and other Protestant denominations had crumbled and disappeared under a rising tide of secularism and atheism, leaving an embattled Catholic Church as the sole champion of Christian truth. Nations are armed with weapons which can destroy a whole city from the air within minutes. In his next novel The Dawn of All (1911), Benson imagines an opposite future 1971 in which the Catholic Church has emerged victorious in England and worldwide after Germany and Austria won the "Emperor War" of 1914; this book is also notable in its fairly accurate prediction of a global network of a passenger air travel.[5][6] Come Rack! Come Rope! (1912) is a historical novel describing the persecution of English Roman Catholics during the Elizabethan era.[7] The bibliography below reveals a prodigious output.

Among his historical novels is the Reformation Trilogy: By What Authority (1905), The King’s Achievement (1905), and The Queen’s Tragedy (1907).[8]

Vatican chaplaincy

Benson was appointed a supernumerary private chamberlain to the Pope (Pius X) in 1911 and consequently styled as Monsignor.

Private life

As a young man, Benson recalled, he had rejected the idea of marriage as "quite inconceivable".[9] He had a close friendship with "Baron Corvo", alias the novelist Frederick Rolfe, with whom he had hoped to write a book on St Thomas Becket, until Benson decided that he should not be associated (according to writer Brian Masters)[10] "with a Venetian pimp and procurer of boys". Nevertheless he maintained his friendship with Lord Alfred Douglas, the friend and lover of Oscar Wilde, and when an acquaintance protested that the connection with Douglas was inappropriate for him, he replied: "Lord Alfred Douglas is my friend, and he'll come down when he likes!"[10]

Death and legacy

Benson died of pneumonia in 1914 in Salford, where he had been preaching a mission. He was 42. At his request, he was buried in the orchard of Hare Street House, his house in the Hertfordshire village of Hare Street.[11] A chapel, dedicated to St Hugh, was built over the site. Benson bequeathed the house to the Catholic Church as a county retreat for the Archbishop of Westminster. The Roman Catholic church in the nearby town of Buntingford, which he helped finance, is dedicated to St Richard of Chichester, but also known as the Benson Memorial Church.[12]

In 2019, the house was put up for sale. Benson's body was exhumed, and moved to the crypt of St. Edmund's College in Old Hall Green.[13]

The Benson Club is a Catholic reading group named in his honour at Fisher House, Cambridge.

Gallery

• 
  Portrait of Benson
• 
  Benson's birthplace. From the book Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother
• 
  Benson, aged 5, with Beth at the Chancery, Lincoln, in 1876. From the book Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother
• 
  A. C. Benson, R. H. Benson and E. F. Benson, 1882. From the book Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother
• 
  Benson in 1889, aged 17, as Steerer in the St George at Eton. From the book Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother

Works

Science fiction

• A Mirror of Shalott, Benziger Brothers, 1907.
• Lord of the World, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1908 [1st Pub. 1907].
• The Dawn of All, B. Herder, 1911.[14]

Historical fiction

• By What Authority?, Isbister, 1904.
• Come Rack! Come Rope!, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1913 [1st Pub. 1912].
• Oddsfish!, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1914.
• The King's Achievement, Burns Oates & Washbourne, Lrd., 1905.
• The Queen's Tragedy, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd., 1907.[15]
• The History of Richard Raynal, Solitary, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd., 1912.
• Initiation, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1914.[16]

Contemporary fiction

• The Light Invisible, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons Ltd., 1906.
• The Sentimentalists, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons Ltd., 1906.
• The Conventionalists, Hutchinson & Co., 1908.
• The Necromancers, Hutchinson & Co., 1909.
• The Winnowing, B. Herder, 1910.
• None other gods, B. Herder, 1911.
• The Coward, B. Herder, 1912.
• An Average Man, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1913.
• Loneliness?, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1915.

Children's books

• Alphabet of Saints, with Reginald Balfour and Charles Ritchie, illustraded by L. D. Symington, Oates & Washbourne, 1905.
• A Child's Rule of Life, illustrated by Gabriel Pippet, digitized by Richard Mammana.
• Old Testament Rhymes, illustrated by Gabriel Pippet.

Devotional works

• Vexilla Regis: A Book of Devotions and Intercessions, Longmans, Green & Co., 1915 [1st Pub. 1914].
• A Book of the Love of Jesus: A Collection of Ancient English Devotions in Prose and Verse, Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1915.
• The Friendship of Christ, Longmans, Green & Co., 1914 [1st Pub. 1912].

Apologetic works

• The Religion of the Plain Man, Burns & Oates, 1906.
• Papers of a Pariah, Longmans, Green & Co., 1907.
• Non-Catholic Denominations, Longmans, Green & Co., 1910.
• Christ in the Church: A Volume of Religious Essays, Longmans, Green & Co., 1911.
• Confessions of a Convert, Longmans, Green & Co., 1913.
• Paradoxes of Catholicism, Longmans, Green & Co., 1913.
• Lourdes, The Manresa Press, 1914.
• Spiritual Letters of Monsignor R. Hugh Benson: to One of his Converts, Longmans, Green & Co., 1915.
• A Book of Essays, Catholic Truth Society, 1916.
• Sermon Notes, First Series: Anglican, Second Series: Catholic, Longmans, Green & Co., 1917.

Plays

• The Cost of a Crown, a Story of Douay & Durham; a Sacred Drama in Three Acts, Longmans, Green & Co., 1910.
• A Mystery Play in Honour of the Nativity of Our Lord, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1908.
• The Maid of Orleans, a Drama of the Life of Joan of Arc, Longmans, Green & Co., 1911.
• The Upper Room, a Drama of Christ's Passion, Longmans, Green & Co., 1914.

Selected articles

• "The Conversion of England," The American Ecclesiastical Review, Vol. XXXIV, 1906.
• "The State of Religion in England," The Catholic World, Vol. LXXXIV, October 1906/March 1907.
• "A Modern Theory of Human Personality," The Dublin Review, Vol. CXLI, 1907.
• "The Dissolution of the Religious Houses." In: Renascence and Reformation (From The Cambridge History of English Literature, 15 Vols.), 1908.
• "Letters of Queen Victoria, 1837-1861," The Dublin Review, Vol. CXLII, January/April 1908.
• "Christian Science," The Dublin Review, Vol. CXLIII, No. 286, October 1908.
• "Spiritualism," The Dublin Review, Vol. CXLV, No. 290-291, July/October, 1909.
• "A Catholic Colony," The Dublin Review, Vol. CXLVI, January/April, 1910.
• "Catholicism and the Future," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. CVI, 1910.
• "Phantasms of the Dead," The Dublin Review, Vol. CL, No. 300-301, January/April, 1912.
• "Cosmopolitanism and Catholicism," The North American Review, September 1912.
• "Cardinal Gasquet," The Dublin Review, Vol. CLV, July/October, 1914.

Other

• The Holy Blissful Martyr Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Benziger Brothers, 1910.
• The Life of Saint Teresa, Herbert & Daniel, 1912. (Preface only (20 pages), author is Alice Lady Lovat)
• Poems, Burns & Oates, 1915.
• Maxims from the Writings of Mgr. Benson, By the compiler of "Thoughts from Augustine Birrell," R. & T. Washbourne Ltd., 1915.

See also

• Gerard Manley Hopkins
• John Henry Newman
• G.K. Chesterton
• List of dystopian literature

Notes

1. Ashley, Mike (May–June 1984). "The Essential Writers: Blood Brothers (Profile of E.F., A.C. and R. H. Benson)". Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine. pp. 63–70.
2. "Benson, Robert Hugh (BN890RH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. Pearce, Joseph."R.H. Benson: Unsung Genius", Lay Witness
4. "Robert Hugh Benson", University of Notre Dame archives
5. Maxim Shadurski, "Religion and Science in Robert Hugh Benson's The Dawn of All", article in "English Studies" 94(4), June 2013 - see online abstract
6. The volor aircraft achieve lift by means of aerolite, an extremely "volatile" gas.
7. Richard Griffiths, Pen and the Cross: Catholicism and English Literature 1850 - 2000. London: A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 9780826496973 (pp. 83-5).
8. Applegarth, Anne. "The Fiction of Robert Hugh Benson", The Catholic World Report, July 10, 2015
9. Benson, Robert Hugh (1913). Confessions of a Convert. Longmans, Green and Co.
10. Howse, Christopher (3 February 2007). "Sacred mysteries". The Telegraph (opinion).
11. Benson, A.C. Hugh: Memoirs of a Brother. Dodo Press. p. 210. ISBN 1406548197.
12. "Buntingford – St Richard of Chichester", Taking Stock, Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales
13. https://www.facebook.com/Saveharestreethouse/photos/a.231260830836600/428875191075162/?type=3&theater
14. "The Dawn of All," The Bookman, September 1911.
15. Pollen, J. H. (21 July 1906). "Review of The Queen's Tragedy by Robert Hugh Benson". The Academy. 71 (1785): 63–64.
16. Cooper, Frederick Taber. "The Accustomed Manner and Some Recent Novels," The Bookman, May 1914.

References

• Beesley, Thomas Quinn (1916). "The Poetry of Robert Hugh Benson," The Catholic Educational Review, Vol. XII, pp. 122–134.
• Benson, Arthur C. (1915). Hugh: Memoirs of a Brother. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers.
• Bour'his, Jean Morris le (1980). Robert Hugh Benson, Homme de Foi et Artiste. Atelier Reproduction de Thèses, Université de Lille III.
• Braybrooke, Patrick (1931). "Robert Hugh Benson; Novelist and Philosopher." In: Some Catholic Novelists. London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne.
• Brown, Stephen J.M. & Thomas McDermott (1945). A Survey of Catholic Literature. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company.
• Concannon, Helena (1914). "Robert Hugh Benson, Novelist," Part II, The Catholic World, Vol. XCIX, pp. 487–498, 635–645.
• Gorce, Agnès de La (1928). Robert Hugh Benson: Prêtre et Romancier, 1871-1914. Paris: Plon.
• Grayson, Janet (1998). Robert Hugh Benson: Life and Works. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America.
• Watt, Reginald J.J. (1918). Robert Hugh Benson: Captain in God's Army. London: Burns & Oates Ldt.
• Warre Cornish, Blanche (1914). Memorials of Robert Hugh Benson. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons.
• McMahon, Joseph H. (1915). "The Late Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson," Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. XXVI, pp. 55–63.
• McMahon, Joseph H. (1915). "Robert Hugh Benson: A Personal Memory," The Bookman, Vol. XLI, pp. 160–169.
• Monaghan, Sister Mary Saint Rita (1985). Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson: His Apostolate and Its Message for Our Time. Brisbane, Qld.: Boolarong Publications.
• Marshall, George. "Two Autobiographical Narratives of Conversion: Robert Hugh Benson and Ronald Knox." British Catholic History 24.2 (1998): 237-253.
• Martindale, C.C. (1916). The Life of Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, Vol. 2. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Ross, Allan (1915). Monsignor Hugh Benson (1871-1914). The Catholic Truth Society.
• Parr, Olive Katherine (1915). Robert Hugh Benson: An Appreciation. London: Hutchinson & Co.
• Shadurski, Maxim (2020). The Nationality of Utopia: H. G. Wells, England, and the World State. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780367330491. (Chapter 3 features an in-depth discussion of The Dawn of All.)
• Shuster, Norman (1922). "Robert Hugh Benson and the Aging Novel." In: The Catholic Spirit in Modern English Literature. New York: The Macmillan Company, pp. 208–228.

External links

• Robert Hugh Benson at Library of Congress Authorities, with 63 catalogue records

Online editions

• Works by Robert Hugh Benson at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Robert Hugh Benson at Faded Page (Canada)
• Works by Robert Hugh Benson at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)