Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/259

Benson will ever be associated with names famous in the art which he did so much to raise and adorn.' Amongst these names are Allen, Bulmer, Nichols, Bell, and Koenig. Nichols writes of him that 'he demonstrated to foreigners that the English press can rival, and even excel, the finest works that have graced the continental annals of typography.' Koenig was associated with him in the invention noticed at the beginning of this article.

[Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, viii.]  BENSON, CHRISTOPHER (1789–1868), prebendary and canon of Worcester, master of the Temple, was born in 1789. He obtained a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1812, and M.A. in 1815. After being ordained he spent some years as a curate at St. John's, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and St. Giles's, London. In 1817 he was select preacher before the university, and delivered a course of sermons on baptism, which he subsequently printed; and two years later he published 'A Chronology of our Saviour's life. Benson rapidly earned a high repute as a preacher, and in the year 1820 he was selected as the first lecturer under Hulse's bequest at Cambridge. Hulse, who died in 1789, had left a considerable sum of money for various purposes connected with the elucidation of the Christian evidences; but as the fund was not held to be adequate for all the objects of the bequest, the appointment of a lecturer was delayed for thirty years. Benson's lectures, which were dedicated to the masters of Downing and St. John's Colleges, went through many editions, and he was again appointed in 1822. The second volume is dedicated to Granville Hastings Wheler, of Otterden Park, Kent, heir to the munificent Lady Betty Hastings, who had presented him to the vicarage of Ledsham. In the meantime he had been elected fellow of Magdalene, and in 1826 he became canon of Worcester. He successively held the livings of Lindridge and Cropthome, and was for several years master of the Temple. At the time of his death, however, which occurred in his eightieth year at Woodfield, near Ross, he held no preferment. Benson belonged to the broader evangelical school; and a series of 'Discourses upon Tradition and Episcopacy,' preached in the Temple Church in 1839, criticised the views of the Oxford tractarians — a term which Benson seems to have been one of the first to attach to Pusey, Newman, and their friends. These discourses, in which he argued against the apostolical authority of the fathers, and condemned the prominence assigned to tradition, led him into a controversy, of great interest at that period, with the Rev. F. Merewether, then rector of Cole Orton. The last of his sermons which attracted general attention was one delivered and printed in 1855, during the Crimean war — apologetic and courtly in its tone, but marked by considerable eloquence and pathos. Amongst his works may also be mentioned a volume on 'The Rubrics and Canons of the Church.' He died in 1868.

[Gent. Mag. 1868; Georgian Era, i. 628.]

 BENSON, GEORGE, D.D. (1699–1762), divine, was born at Great Salkeld, Cumberland, on 1 Sept. 1699. The family was originally of London. Towards the close of Elizabeth's reign Dr. Benson's great-grandfather, John Benson, left the metropolis and settled in Cumberland. This John Benson had thirteen sons, from the eldest of whom Robert Benson [q. v.], Lord Bingley, descended. During the civil war the youngest of these sons, George Benson, Dr. Benson's grandfather, took the side of the parliament, and suffered much in fortune, more especially from the Scotch before the battle of Worcester. This George Benson had the living of Bridekirk in his native county, and was ejected in 1662. His grandson George received an excellent education. He was so diligent in his studies that ‘at eleven years of age he is said to have been able to read the Greek New Testament.’ After a full course of ‘grammar-learning’ he proceeded to an academy presided over by Dr. Dixon at Whitehaven. He remained at this academy about a year. Thence he was transferred to the university of Glasgow. About the year 1721 he is found in London, ‘and, having been examined and approved by several of the most eminent presbyterian ministers, he began to preach, first at Chertsey, and afterwards in the metropolis.’ At this time Dr. Calamy received him into his own family. At the recommendation of Calamy he next went to Abingdon in Berkshire. He was chosen pastor of a congregation of protestant dissenters there. He was ordained on 27 March 1723, Calamy and five other ministers officiating on the occasion. He continued in Abingdon for seven years. He was, as before, systematically studious. When ordained he held strictly Calvinistical opinions and preached them fervently. While at Abingdon he published three ‘Practical Discourses’ addressed to ‘young persons.’ These later he suppressed, in consequence of a change of views.

In 1726 he married Mrs. Elizabeth Hills, widow. In 1729 he finally left Abingdon, which he was obliged to do ‘on account of