Walter Benington (1872–1936) was a British photographer. Working in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

and the first half of the twentieth century, his important contribution to early twentieth century photography has been more fully recognised in the

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

of Robert Crow.

Biography

Walter Benington (sometimes spelt as Bennington) was born in 1872 in Stockton on Tees, in County Durham. He was the son of George and Helena Benington. The 1881 census shows his father's occupation as a Tea Dealer. Benington married Kathleen Inez Whitwell (d. 1953) in 1905. The 1911 Census reveals that the couple had a son, Anthony, and a daughter Barbara. Benington's occupation is described as Photographer and his place of residence to be in

Southgate Southgate or South Gate may refer to: Places Australia *Southgate, Sylvania *Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria Canada *Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County * Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario Ed ...

in north London. Benington died in 1936, his death registered in the

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

district.

Work and legacy

Benington started taking photographs while still at school. Taking his schoolboy hobby into adulthood Benington took up

platinotype Platinum prints, also called ''platinotypes'', are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process involving platinum. Platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are unobtainable in silver ...

printing and pictorial landscape work. The platinotype process enables a greater tonal range than other chemical processes. Benington's arresting image entitled 'Among the Housetops' exhibited in 1893 shows the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral rising above London's buildings like a benign spirit. This image led to him joining the

Linked Ring The Linked Ring (also known as "The Brotherhood of the Linked Ring") was a British photographic society created to propose and defend that photography was just as much an art as it was a science, motivated to propelling photography further into t ...

group of English photographers. In so doing he joined an elite group of contemporary photographers which was later to include Alfred Stieglitz. Crow states in his thesis bstract p. i " eningtonwas a photographer of great distinction and marked individuality fully worthy of a major reappraisal." Benington continued to use the landscape as his subject, for example, another view of St. Paul's taken in 1897 appeared in the 16 June 1908 edition of '

Amateur Photographer ''Amateur Photographer'' is a British photography magazine, published weekly by Kelsey Media. The magazine provides articles on equipment reviews, photographic technique, and profiles of professional photographers. About the magazine ''Am ...

'. The image is of a busy Fleet Street looking east, the Cathedral bathed in light in contrast to the benighted buildings in the foreground. However, by 1910 Benington had become one of the leading portrait photographers in the country. His clientele included

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

. As well as portraiture Benington made contributions to The Sphere Newspaper and other periodicals. A collection of Benington's images, all portraits, taken between 1914 and 1926, are held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. From 1927 he worked as a freelance portrait photographer for

Elliott & Fry Elliott & Fry was a Victorian photography studio founded in 1863 by Joseph John Elliott (14 October 1835 – 30 March 1903) and Clarence Edmund Fry (1840 – 12 April 1897). For a century, the firm's core business was taking and publishing photo ...

. His sitters included

John Logie Baird John Logie Baird FRSE (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first live working television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the first publicly dem ...

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

and

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

. Benington's images were exhibited at the London Salon Exhibition in Pall Mall in 1928, the London Correspondent of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

noting the "impressiveness" of the portraits. In 2007 The National Portrait Gallery held an exhibition 'Walter Benington: Pictorial Portraits'. The display celebrated his portrait photographs some of which were newly acquired by the Gallery and were being shown for the first time. The exhibition featured images of leading artistic, literary, political and scientific figures. The National Portrait Gallery collection includes 66 images taken by Benington. Images attributed to Benington are in the collection of mainly architectural photographs in the

Conway Library The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist c ...

the Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benington, Walter 20th-century British photographers 19th-century English photographers Architectural photographers 1872 births 1936 deaths People from Stockton-on-Tees Portrait photographers