Benson, Arthur Christopher (1862-1925), poet and Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge

Master of Magdalene College, 1915-1925

Arthur Christopher Benson was born on 24 April 1862 at Wellington College and was the son of Edward White Benson (1829–1896), first Headmaster of Wellington College and later Archbishop of Canterbury, and his wife, Mary, née Sidgwick (1841–1918). In 1874 he won a scholarship to Eton College and in 1881 he went to King's College, Cambridge, where he got a First in the Classical Tripos in 1884. He returned to Eton as a school master in 1885, a post he held for 18 years despite having no real interest in it.

His real ambition was for a literary career. He completed a biography of his father in 1899, and throughout his life he wrote or edited around sixty books. He wrote the words of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ set to Elgar's music, for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. He was able to retire from Eton and return to Cambridge on his appointment as joint editor (with the second Viscount Esher) on the first of three volumes of The Letters of Queen Victoria, 1837-1861.

In 1904 he became a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge and in 1912 he became it's President. In December 1915 he was made Master, a post he held until his death. At the time he joined the College it was at a very low ebb, but his benefactions and energy transformed the College. He was helped by gifts totaling over £60,000 from an American admirer living in Switzerland, Mme de Nottbeck. He encouraged ‘modern’ subjects, not only English and history, but science, archaeology, and music. He also widened the range of school connections. He was friendly and helpful towards a large proportion of the undergraduates but he could also be combative, egotistical, and despotic.

In 1907–8 and again in 1917–22 he suffered from prolonged bouts of depression and withdrew from society.

He was a prolific diarist writing 180 volumes between 1897 and 1925.

He died in the Old Lodge at Magdalene College on 17 June 1925.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography