Edward White Benson

BENSON, Edward White. b. Birmingham, 14 July 1829; d. Hawarden, Cheshire, 11 October 1896. He was from an old Yorkshire family, which had moved to Birmingham because his father was a chemical engineer. He was educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham (where he was a school friend of Joseph Barber Lightfoot, later Bishop of Durham) and Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1852, MA 1853, ). He took Holy Orders (deacon 1854, priest 1857) and became a Fellow of the College. He taught at Rugby School (1852-58), before becoming the first Headmaster of Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire (1858-72). According to the ODNB, ‘he made Wellington College one of the great public schools of England.’...