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Robin Benson

August 31, 2023

For the Irish Olympic sailor, see Robin Benson (sailor).

Robert Henry "Robin" Benson (24 September 1850 – 7 April 1929)[1] was an English merchant banker and art collector. As an amateur footballer, he was a member of the Oxford University football team which won the FA Cup in 1874.

Robin Benson in 1887

Family and education Edit

Benson was born on 24 September 1850 at Fairfield House, Fairfield, near Manchester, the eldest of three children of Robert Benson (1814–1875), a merchant, and his wife, Eleanor Sara née Moorsom (1824–1883), the daughter of Vice-Admiral Constantine Moorsom.[1] He was baptised at St Stephen's church, Audenshaw on 1 November 1850.[2]

Benson was educated at Eton College, from where he matriculated on 21 October 1869, before going up to Balliol College, Oxford.[3] He graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1874,[4] having been admitted to the Inner Temple to read for the Bar in January 1873.[1][5]

Athletics and football career Edit

 
Oxford University's F.A. Cup winning side of 1874. Benson is fifth from left in the back row.

Ar Eton, he was described as "an athlete of more than ordinary distinction".[6]

Benson earned his athletics Blue in 1870, 1872 and 1873 and in 1872, he was appointed President of the Oxford University Athletic Club.[5] In the University Sports of 1870, Benson won the mile race by two yards in a time of 4 minutes 33 seconds.[6] Benson also won the Amateur Athletic Club mile championship in 1870.[5] In 1872, Benson competed in the 3 mile race in the University sports, in which he finished in a dead heat in 15 minutes 44 seconds with Cambridge's Edward Montague Hawtrey,[6] whose brother John played for Old Etonians in the 1879 FA Cup Final.[7] In 1873, Benson again ran in the mile race, finishing fourth.[6]

Benson played football at Eton and for Oxford University. He played as outside-right and was described as "a brilliant forward at times, but a little wanting in strength; has great pace, and is a clever dribbler", and as "a good forward and very useful as a wing player; fast and dribbles well".[5] Benson was selected as a member of the University team that played in the 1874 FA Cup Final. In the final, played at Kennington Oval on 14 March 1874 against a team from the Royal Engineers, the university ran out as 2–0 winners, with goals from Charles Mackarness and Frederick Patton.[8][9] Shortly after the FA Cup final, Benson played for Oxford in the first Varsity match against Cambridge University, won 1–0 by Oxford.[6]

In 1875, Benson was selected to represent Old Etonians in the FA Cup Final, played at Kennington Oval on 13 March.The match ended in a 1–1 draw, with Benson missing a fine chance to score early in the match, from a centre by Cuthbert Ottaway, the team captain.[10] Benson was one of four players who were unavailable for the replay three days later, and was replaced by Thomas Hamond. The weakened Old Boys team lost the replay to a full strength Royal Engineers 2–0.[11]

After leaving university, Benson also made a few appearances for the Wanderers.[12]

Banking career Edit

In October 1874, Benson was sent to Boston to join the family mercantile business but returned to England after the sudden death of his father in January 1875.[1] On 19 January 1875, Benson and his brother, Constantine, became partners in the Moorgate-based mercantile firm of Robert Benson & Co. This partnership was only short lived, and was declared bankrupt in June 1875[13] following the failure of many creditors after the financial crash of 1873, which had been masked by accounting irregularities.[1]

Later that year, family connections enabled Benson to join the banking business of John Walter Cross (who married the novelist George Eliot in 1880), becoming a junior partner in the firm, under the name Cross, Benson & Co.[1][6] The firm was primarily engaged in the business of investment in American securities for private clients, and Benson rapidly built up a profitable business financing railroads in the American mid-west. Benson amassed a substantial personal fortune by identifying Chicago and the mid-west as growth areas, following the 1873 crash, selling out profitably as the economy recovered.[1] At the end of 1882, Cross retired from the partnership[14] following which the firm became Robert Benson & Co.[1]

Benson was a forerunner in the investment trust industry in conjunction with his friends Robert Fleming and Alexander Henderson, going on to found the Merchants Trust in 1889.[1][15] Benson also became heavily engaged in the financing of railways and mining development in Southern Africa, especially in Southern Rhodesia, where his brother-in-law Albert Grey, later the 4th Earl Grey, was administrator.[1]

Benson was also a director of several other companies, including the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, of which he was chairman, the London Electric Supply Corporation and the St. James's and Pall Mall Electric Light Company.[6]

Art collector Edit

 
Robin Benson in 1912 (John Singer Sargent)

By the early 1880s, Benson had started to build up his collection of Italian pictures, with the purchase of several paintings in 1884 from the art dealer Martin Colnaghi, including Portrait of a Collector by Mario Basaiti, Madonna and Child, attributed to Bastiano Mainardi, and A Triumphal Procession with Prisoners by Andrea Schiavone.[1]

Following his marriage in 1887 to Evelyn Holford, the daughter of the art collector Robert Holford, Benson began to spend more of his time on his collection of paintings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, adding works by Duccio di Buoninsegna, and many old masters including Giorgione, Botticelli, Correggio and Titian.[1] In total, he amassed a collection of 114 early Italian paintings, as well as pictures by Thomas Gainsborough and Edward Burne-Jones.[16]

Benson and his wife also created a noted collection of early Chinese porcelain and pottery,[1] which was loaned to the City of Manchester Art Gallery "Exhibition of Chinese Applied Art" in 1913, and later to the Victoria & Albert Museum.[17]

In 1914, Benson published a catalogue of his art collection,[1][16] and later two catalogues of the Holford family collections, "The Holford Collection at Westonbirt" (1924) and "The Holford Collection, Dorchester House" (1927).[1]

Writer on economic policy Edit

During the First World War, the banking operations were virtually suspended, enabling Benson to write about economic policy and act as an unofficial city advisor. In May 1916, he prepared a "Resumė of War Finance" for the government.[18] In 1918, he published a booklet in which he advocated the creation of a central bank to manage the market in Government securities.[1]

After the First World War Edit

When normal merchant banking activities resumed after the war, Benson realised that the bank was in need of increased capitalisation. As a result, in 1924 he brought his three sons into the business, and sold his collection of Chinese porcelain by auction at Christie's in order to raise funds.[6][17]

Two years later, the partnership was converted into a limited liability company.[1] Following the death of his brother-in-law, George Holford in September 1926, the large Holford family holding in the bank had to be realised by the estate, requiring Benson to sell his entire art collection. The collection was sold in its entirety to the art dealer Joseph Duveen for $2.5 million in 1927.[19]

Public offices Edit

Benson was very active in public life, being a trustee of the National Gallery from 1912, and on the board of the Tate Gallery. He was the treasurer of the National Art Collections Fund from 1906, and a long-time member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club, regularly loaning pictures and porcelain for its exhibitions.[6] He was also a member of the council of the Victoria and Albert Museum,[1] a member of the Royal College of Music, and a Justice of the Peace.[20]

Marriage and children Edit

 
Buckhurst c.1900

On 7 July 1887, at St George's church, Hanover Square, Westminster, Benson married Evelyn Holford (1856–1943), the daughter of Robert Stayner Holford of Weston Birt in Gloucestershire.[21] The couple had five children:[22]

  • Guy Holford Benson (1888–1975)
  • Reginald Lindsay (Rex) Benson (1889–1968)
  • Margaret Winifred (Daisy) Benson (1892–1976)
  • Constantine Evelyn Benson (1895–1960)
  • Rosalind Frances (Lindy) Benson (1899–1982)

From 1902 to 1927, Benson and his family lived at Buckhurst Park, Withyham in (East) Sussex which he rented on a 25-year lease from Gilbert Sackville, Earl De La Warr. During his time at Buckhurst, Benson made considerable changes to the house,[1] engaging architect Edwin Lutyens to add an extensive wing.[23][24]

In 1926, Benson and his wife purchased Walpole House, the largest house in Chiswick Mall, Chiswick, which at one time had been the home of Thomas Walpole.[25][26]

Death Edit

Benson died of a paralytic stroke on 8 April 1929 at Walpole House.[3] He was buried in St Catherine's churchyard at Westonbirt, Gloucestershire (now part of Westonbirt School).[1] A memorial service was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 10 April 1929.[27] He left an estate valued for probate at £116,500.[28]

Sporting honours Edit

Oxford University

Old Etonians

  • FA Cup runners-up: 1875

References Edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Wake, Jehanne (5 May 2006). "Benson, Robert Henry [Robin]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48999. Retrieved 18 April 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "Manchester, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915". Ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Benson, Robert Henry, (1850–7 April 1929), senior partner of Robert Benson & Co., merchant bankers, London; a Trustee of the National Gallery since 1912; Member of Council of the Royal College of Music". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u205982. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Oxford University Alumni, 1500–1886". Ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Warsop 2004, pp. 61–62.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Mr. R.H. Benson – Banker and Art Collector". The Times. 8 April 1929. p. 14. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  7. ^ Warsop 2004, pp. 83–84.
  8. ^ Gibbons 2001, pp. 41–42.
  9. ^ Collett 2003, p. 479.
  10. ^ Warsop 2004, p. 43.
  11. ^ Warsop 2004, p. 44.
  12. ^ Cavallini 2005, p. 104.
  13. ^ "No. 24223". The London Gazette. 29 June 1875. p. 3356.
  14. ^ "No. 25184". The London Gazette. 2 January 1883. p. 54.
  15. ^ "Investing for the long term since 1889…" (PDF). Merchants Trust. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  16. ^ a b Benson, Robin. "Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16, South Street, Park Lane, London and Buckhurst in Sussex, collected by Robert and Evelyn Benson". Jonathan Hill, Bookseller. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  17. ^ a b Chinese Art, Research into Provenance. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  18. ^ "Merchants Trust history: Into the Twentieth Century". Merchants Trust. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  19. ^ Chung, Yupin. "Dealers and collectors: RH Benson". National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  20. ^ Warsop 2004, p. 62.
  21. ^ "Marriage of Miss Holford". Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. 9 July 1887. p. 8. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  22. ^ Pease, Charles. "The Descendants of Richard Benson" (PDF). www.pennyghael.org. p. 55. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  23. ^ Wake, Jehanne (1997). Kleinwort, Benson: The History of Two Families in Banking. p. 266.
  24. ^ O’Driscoll, Carol (27 October 2017). "David Weekes" (PDF). Ashdown Forest Research Group. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  25. ^ Historic England. "Walpole House (1000846)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  26. ^ "Walpole House". London Gardens Trust Inventory. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  27. ^ "Memorial Services – Mr. Robert Benson". The Times. 11 April 1929. p. 19. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  28. ^ "Robert Henry Benson in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995". Ancestry.co,uk. Retrieved 24 April 2020.

Bibliography Edit

  • Cavallini, Rob (2005). The Wanderers - Five Time F.A. Cup Winners. Worcester Park: Dock N Duck Publications. ISBN 978-0-9550496-0-6.
  • Collett, Mike (2003). The Complete Record of the FA Cup. Sports Books. ISBN 1-899807-19-5.
  • Gibbons, Philip (2001). Association Football in Victorian England – A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900. Upfront Publishing. ISBN 1-84426-035-6.
  • Warsop, Keith (30 November 2004). The Early F.A. Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs. Nottingham: SoccerData. ISBN 978-1899468782.

External links Edit

August 31, 2023
robin, benson, irish, olympic, sailor, sailor, robert, henry, robin, benson, september, 1850, april, 1929, english, merchant, banker, collector, amateur, footballer, member, oxford, university, football, team, which, 1874, 1887, contents, family, education, at. For the Irish Olympic sailor see Robin Benson sailor Robert Henry Robin Benson 24 September 1850 7 April 1929 1 was an English merchant banker and art collector As an amateur footballer he was a member of the Oxford University football team which won the FA Cup in 1874 Robin Benson in 1887 Contents 1 Family and education 2 Athletics and football career 3 Banking career 4 Art collector 5 Writer on economic policy 6 After the First World War 7 Public offices 8 Marriage and children 9 Death 10 Sporting honours 11 References 12 Bibliography 13 External linksFamily and education EditBenson was born on 24 September 1850 at Fairfield House Fairfield near Manchester the eldest of three children of Robert Benson 1814 1875 a merchant and his wife Eleanor Sara nee Moorsom 1824 1883 the daughter of Vice Admiral Constantine Moorsom 1 He was baptised at St Stephen s church Audenshaw on 1 November 1850 2 Benson was educated at Eton College from where he matriculated on 21 October 1869 before going up to Balliol College Oxford 3 He graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1874 4 having been admitted to the Inner Temple to read for the Bar in January 1873 1 5 Athletics and football career Edit Oxford University s F A Cup winning side of 1874 Benson is fifth from left in the back row Ar Eton he was described as an athlete of more than ordinary distinction 6 Benson earned his athletics Blue in 1870 1872 and 1873 and in 1872 he was appointed President of the Oxford University Athletic Club 5 In the University Sports of 1870 Benson won the mile race by two yards in a time of 4 minutes 33 seconds 6 Benson also won the Amateur Athletic Club mile championship in 1870 5 In 1872 Benson competed in the 3 mile race in the University sports in which he finished in a dead heat in 15 minutes 44 seconds with Cambridge s Edward Montague Hawtrey 6 whose brother John played for Old Etonians in the 1879 FA Cup Final 7 In 1873 Benson again ran in the mile race finishing fourth 6 Benson played football at Eton and for Oxford University He played as outside right and was described as a brilliant forward at times but a little wanting in strength has great pace and is a clever dribbler and as a good forward and very useful as a wing player fast and dribbles well 5 Benson was selected as a member of the University team that played in the 1874 FA Cup Final In the final played at Kennington Oval on 14 March 1874 against a team from the Royal Engineers the university ran out as 2 0 winners with goals from Charles Mackarness and Frederick Patton 8 9 Shortly after the FA Cup final Benson played for Oxford in the first Varsity match against Cambridge University won 1 0 by Oxford 6 In 1875 Benson was selected to represent Old Etonians in the FA Cup Final played at Kennington Oval on 13 March The match ended in a 1 1 draw with Benson missing a fine chance to score early in the match from a centre by Cuthbert Ottaway the team captain 10 Benson was one of four players who were unavailable for the replay three days later and was replaced by Thomas Hamond The weakened Old Boys team lost the replay to a full strength Royal Engineers 2 0 11 After leaving university Benson also made a few appearances for the Wanderers 12 Banking career EditIn October 1874 Benson was sent to Boston to join the family mercantile business but returned to England after the sudden death of his father in January 1875 1 On 19 January 1875 Benson and his brother Constantine became partners in the Moorgate based mercantile firm of Robert Benson amp Co This partnership was only short lived and was declared bankrupt in June 1875 13 following the failure of many creditors after the financial crash of 1873 which had been masked by accounting irregularities 1 Later that year family connections enabled Benson to join the banking business of John Walter Cross who married the novelist George Eliot in 1880 becoming a junior partner in the firm under the name Cross Benson amp Co 1 6 The firm was primarily engaged in the business of investment in American securities for private clients and Benson rapidly built up a profitable business financing railroads in the American mid west Benson amassed a substantial personal fortune by identifying Chicago and the mid west as growth areas following the 1873 crash selling out profitably as the economy recovered 1 At the end of 1882 Cross retired from the partnership 14 following which the firm became Robert Benson amp Co 1 Benson was a forerunner in the investment trust industry in conjunction with his friends Robert Fleming and Alexander Henderson going on to found the Merchants Trust in 1889 1 15 Benson also became heavily engaged in the financing of railways and mining development in Southern Africa especially in Southern Rhodesia where his brother in law Albert Grey later the 4th Earl Grey was administrator 1 Benson was also a director of several other companies including the Anglo American Telegraph Company of which he was chairman the London Electric Supply Corporation and the St James s and Pall Mall Electric Light Company 6 Art collector Edit Robin Benson in 1912 John Singer Sargent By the early 1880s Benson had started to build up his collection of Italian pictures with the purchase of several paintings in 1884 from the art dealer Martin Colnaghi including Portrait of a Collector by Mario Basaiti Madonna and Child attributed to Bastiano Mainardi and A Triumphal Procession with Prisoners by Andrea Schiavone 1 Following his marriage in 1887 to Evelyn Holford the daughter of the art collector Robert Holford Benson began to spend more of his time on his collection of paintings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries adding works by Duccio di Buoninsegna and many old masters including Giorgione Botticelli Correggio and Titian 1 In total he amassed a collection of 114 early Italian paintings as well as pictures by Thomas Gainsborough and Edward Burne Jones 16 Benson and his wife also created a noted collection of early Chinese porcelain and pottery 1 which was loaned to the City of Manchester Art Gallery Exhibition of Chinese Applied Art in 1913 and later to the Victoria amp Albert Museum 17 In 1914 Benson published a catalogue of his art collection 1 16 and later two catalogues of the Holford family collections The Holford Collection at Westonbirt 1924 and The Holford Collection Dorchester House 1927 1 Writer on economic policy EditDuring the First World War the banking operations were virtually suspended enabling Benson to write about economic policy and act as an unofficial city advisor In May 1916 he prepared a Resume of War Finance for the government 18 In 1918 he published a booklet in which he advocated the creation of a central bank to manage the market in Government securities 1 After the First World War EditWhen normal merchant banking activities resumed after the war Benson realised that the bank was in need of increased capitalisation As a result in 1924 he brought his three sons into the business and sold his collection of Chinese porcelain by auction at Christie s in order to raise funds 6 17 Two years later the partnership was converted into a limited liability company 1 Following the death of his brother in law George Holford in September 1926 the large Holford family holding in the bank had to be realised by the estate requiring Benson to sell his entire art collection The collection was sold in its entirety to the art dealer Joseph Duveen for 2 5 million in 1927 19 Public offices EditBenson was very active in public life being a trustee of the National Gallery from 1912 and on the board of the Tate Gallery He was the treasurer of the National Art Collections Fund from 1906 and a long time member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club regularly loaning pictures and porcelain for its exhibitions 6 He was also a member of the council of the Victoria and Albert Museum 1 a member of the Royal College of Music and a Justice of the Peace 20 Marriage and children Edit Buckhurst c 1900On 7 July 1887 at St George s church Hanover Square Westminster Benson married Evelyn Holford 1856 1943 the daughter of Robert Stayner Holford of Weston Birt in Gloucestershire 21 The couple had five children 22 Guy Holford Benson 1888 1975 Reginald Lindsay Rex Benson 1889 1968 Margaret Winifred Daisy Benson 1892 1976 Constantine Evelyn Benson 1895 1960 Rosalind Frances Lindy Benson 1899 1982 From 1902 to 1927 Benson and his family lived at Buckhurst Park Withyham in East Sussex which he rented on a 25 year lease from Gilbert Sackville Earl De La Warr During his time at Buckhurst Benson made considerable changes to the house 1 engaging architect Edwin Lutyens to add an extensive wing 23 24 In 1926 Benson and his wife purchased Walpole House the largest house in Chiswick Mall Chiswick which at one time had been the home of Thomas Walpole 25 26 Death EditBenson died of a paralytic stroke on 8 April 1929 at Walpole House 3 He was buried in St Catherine s churchyard at Westonbirt Gloucestershire now part of Westonbirt School 1 A memorial service was held at St Martin in the Fields on 10 April 1929 27 He left an estate valued for probate at 116 500 28 Sporting honours EditOxford University FA Cup winner 1874Old Etonians FA Cup runners up 1875References Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Wake Jehanne 5 May 2006 Benson Robert Henry Robin Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 48999 Retrieved 18 April 2020 Subscription or UK public library membership required Manchester England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 1915 Ancestry co uk Retrieved 18 April 2020 a b Benson Robert Henry 1850 7 April 1929 senior partner of Robert Benson amp Co merchant bankers London a Trustee of the National Gallery since 1912 Member of Council of the Royal College of Music WHO S WHO amp WHO WAS WHO 2007 doi 10 1093 ww 9780199540884 013 u205982 ISBN 978 0 19 954089 1 Retrieved 21 June 2021 Oxford University Alumni 1500 1886 Ancestry co uk Retrieved 18 April 2020 a b c d Warsop 2004 pp 61 62 a b c d e f g h i Mr R H Benson Banker and Art Collector The Times 8 April 1929 p 14 Retrieved 19 April 2020 Warsop 2004 pp 83 84 Gibbons 2001 pp 41 42 Collett 2003 p 479 Warsop 2004 p 43 Warsop 2004 p 44 Cavallini 2005 p 104 No 24223 The London Gazette 29 June 1875 p 3356 No 25184 The London Gazette 2 January 1883 p 54 Investing for the long term since 1889 PDF Merchants Trust Retrieved 21 April 2020 a b Benson Robin Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16 South Street Park Lane London and Buckhurst in Sussex collected by Robert and Evelyn Benson Jonathan Hill Bookseller Retrieved 23 April 2020 a b Benson Robert Henry M A J P Chinese Art Research into Provenance Archived from the original on 20 July 2011 Retrieved 23 April 2020 Merchants Trust history Into the Twentieth Century Merchants Trust Retrieved 23 April 2020 Chung Yupin Dealers and collectors RH Benson National Museums Liverpool Retrieved 23 April 2020 Warsop 2004 p 62 Marriage of Miss Holford Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard 9 July 1887 p 8 Retrieved 18 April 2020 Pease Charles The Descendants of Richard Benson PDF www pennyghael org p 55 Retrieved 21 April 2020 Wake Jehanne 1997 Kleinwort Benson The History of Two Families in Banking p 266 O Driscoll Carol 27 October 2017 David Weekes PDF Ashdown Forest Research Group Retrieved 24 April 2020 Historic England Walpole House 1000846 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 24 April 2020 Walpole House London Gardens Trust Inventory Retrieved 24 April 2020 Memorial Services Mr Robert Benson The Times 11 April 1929 p 19 Retrieved 19 April 2020 Robert Henry Benson in the England amp Wales National Probate Calendar Index of Wills and Administrations 1858 1995 Ancestry co uk Retrieved 24 April 2020 Bibliography EditCavallini Rob 2005 The Wanderers Five Time F A Cup Winners Worcester Park Dock N Duck Publications ISBN 978 0 9550496 0 6 Collett Mike 2003 The Complete Record of the FA Cup Sports Books ISBN 1 899807 19 5 Gibbons Philip 2001 Association Football in Victorian England A History of the Game from 1863 to 1900 Upfront Publishing ISBN 1 84426 035 6 Warsop Keith 30 November 2004 The Early F A Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs Nottingham SoccerData ISBN 978 1899468782 External links EditBenson Robert Henry entry in Who s Who Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Robin Benson amp oldid 1165836449, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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