Godfrey Rathbone Benson, 1st Baron Charnwood (6 November 1864 – 3 February 1945), was an English author, academic,
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
politician and philanthropist.
Benson was born in
Alresford, Hampshire, the fourth son of William Benson, a barrister, and Elizabeth Soulsby Smith. The actor-manager
Sir Frank Benson and the designer
William Arthur Smith Benson
William Arthur Smith Benson (17 October 1854 – 5 July 1924) was an English designer active in the Arts and Crafts Movement.
References
* Ian Hamerton (Ed.): ''W.A.S. Benson: Arts & Crafts Luminary and Pioneer of Modern Design.'' Antique ...
were his brothers. He was educated at
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
and
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, graduating in 1887 with a First in ''
literae humaniores'', and would later become a Philosophy lecturer at Balliol. He was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
by the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
in 1898.
Benson was involved in Liberal politics and represented
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
in the
House of Commons from 1892 to 1895, when he was defeated. He then unsuccessfully stood in
St. Pancras West in 1900 and
Worcestershire West in 1906. He served as Mayor of
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
between 1909 and 1911. In the latter year Benson was raised to the peerage as
Baron Charnwood
Baron Charnwood, of Castle Donington in the County of Leicester, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 29 June 1911 for the author, academic, Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of l ...
, of
Castle Donington
Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport.
History
The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another suggest ...
in the
County of Leicester
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
.
Lord Charnwood was the author of many works, including two biographies, the much-acclaimed ''
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
'' (1916) and ''
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
'' (1923), and a detective novel, ''
Tracks in the Snow'' (1906), which was reviewed in
The Bookman He also wrote a useful look into early modern
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...
trends, and presented his own viewpoints in ''According To Saint John'', which he dedicated to
George Ridding
George Ridding (16 March 1828 – 30 August 1904) was an English headmaster and bishop.
Life
He was born at Winchester College, of which his father, the Rev. Charles Ridding, vicar of Andover, was a fellow.
He was educated at Winchester ...
. He was also involved in charitable work with the deaf and disabled, becoming the first President of the National Institute for the Deaf from 1924 until 1935.
On 25 December 1934, Lord Charnwood gave a speech about the
Holodomor
The Holodomor ( uk, Голодомо́р, Holodomor, ; derived from uk, морити голодом, lit=to kill by starvation, translit=moryty holodom, label=none), also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a man-made famin ...
(the famine in Ukraine) at the debates in Brtitish parliament. His speech was based on the information he received from
Theodor Innitzer, Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, and British journalists
William Henry Chamberlin
William Henry Chamberlin (February 17, 1897 – September 12, 1969) was an American historian and journalist. He was the author of several books about the Cold War, communism, and foreign policy, including ''The Russian Revolution 1917-1921'' (19 ...
and
Malcolm Muggeridge. He stressed the artificial nature of the Holodomor.
He married Dorothea Mary Roby Thorpe, daughter of Roby Thorpe, in 1897. They had four children, including Hon. Eleanor Theodora Roby Benson, John Roby Benson (2nd Baron Charnwood) and Antonia Mary, Viscountess Radcliffe. Lady Charnwood died in 1942.
Charnwood died in London in February 1945, aged 80, and was succeeded in the barony by his second but only surviving son, John.
Works
*
Tracks in the Snow' (London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1906; repub. Macmillan & Co., Toronto, Ernest Benn Limited, London, 1927, Dial Press, NY. 1928)
* ''Considerations on a Scheme of a Federal Government for the United Kingdom'' (London : William Clowes & Sons, 1902)
* ''Legislation for the Protection of Women'' (London: P.S. King & Son, 1912)
* ''The Federal Solution'' c-authored with
John Archibald Murray Macdonald (London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1914)
* ''Abraham Lincoln'' (London: Constable & Co., 1916, New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1917)
* ''Abraham Lincoln; address ... at the dedication of the statue of Abraham Lincoln on the State house grounds, Oct. 6, 1918'' (Springfield, Illinois State Historical Society. 1920)
*
Concerning Abraham Lincoln' serial (Anglo-French review, vol. III, no.1 February 1920; vol. III, no. 2 March 1920; vol. III, no. 4 May 1920 ; vol. III, no. 5 June 1920 ; vol. III, no. 6 July 1920 ; vol. IV, no. 1 August 1920 ; vol. IV, no. 3, October 1920 ; vol. IV, no. 4 November 1920) and in
The Living Age volume 306, number 3966, July 10, 1920, Boston, MA)
* ''Walt Whitman and America'', published in ''Essays by Divers Hands : Being the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom'', p.103-123, (New Series
.e. 3rdVol. 1 Oxford University Press, London, 1921)
*
His talk with Lincoln : being a letter written by James M. Stradling', (Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1922)
* ''Theodore Roosevelt'' (London:Constable & Co., 1923, Boston, MA: The Atlantic Monthly Press (1923)
* ''According To Saint John'' (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1925, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1925)
- As Editor-
*
Philosophical lectures and remains of Richard Lewis Nettleship, fellow and tutor of Balliol College, Oxford'
Andrew Cecil Bradley
Andrew Cecil Bradley, (26 March 1851 – 2 September 1935) was an English literary scholar, best remembered for his work on Shakespeare.
Life
Bradley was born at Park Hill, Clapham, Surrey. His father was the preacher Charles Bradley (1789 ...
. Vol 2 republished as
Lectures on the Republic of Plato] (London, Macmillan & Co., 1897)
* ''Recalled to life ; A journal devoted to the care, re-education, and return to civil life of disabled sailors and soldiers'' (London : Bale, Sons & Danielsson, 1917)
References
* ''Lincoln's biographer'', by Edgar, William C. (William Crowell), 1856-1932
The Bellman, Vol. XXV, no. 638, October 5, 1918
*
*
*
*N.I.D.Annual Reports 1924–1935
External links
*
*
*
Lord Charnwood's 'Abraham Lincoln'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charnwood, Godfrey Benson, 1st Baron
English biographers
English philanthropists
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
People educated at Winchester College
People from Alresford
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
1864 births
1945 deaths
Benson, Godfrey
Benson, Godfrey
Members of the Inner Temple
Deputy Lieutenants of Staffordshire
Historians of Abraham Lincoln
Barons created by George V