Robert Hugh Benson
Robert Hugh Monsignor Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was an English Catholic priest and writer. First an Anglican priest, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1903 and ordained therein the next year. He was also a prolific writer of fiction, writing the notable dystopian novel Lord of the World, as well as Come Rack! Come Rope!.
Robert Hugh Benson
His output encompassed historical, horror and science fiction, contemporary fiction, children's stories, plays, apologetics, devotional works and articles. He continued his writing career at the same time as he progressed through the hierarchy to become a Chamberlain to Pope Pius X in 1911, and gain the title of Monsignor before his death a few years later.
Early life[edit]
Benson was the youngest son of Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury and his wife, Mary; Benson was the younger brother of E. F. Benson, A. C. Benson and Margaret Benson.[1][2]
Benson was educated at Eton College and then studied classics and theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1890 to 1893.[3]
In 1895, Benson was ordained a priest in the Church of England by his father, who was the then Archbishop of Canterbury.
Private life[edit]
As a young man, Benson recalled, he had rejected the idea of marriage as "quite inconceivable".[11] He had a close friendship with the novelist Frederick Rolfe, with whom he had hoped to write a book on St Thomas Becket, until Benson decided that he should not be associated (according to writer Brian Masters) "with a Venetian pimp and procurer of boys". Nevertheless, he maintained his friendship with Lord Alfred Douglas, the friend and lover of Oscar Wilde, and when an acquaintance protested that the connection with Douglas was inappropriate for him, he replied: "Lord Alfred Douglas is my friend, and he'll come down when he likes!"[12]
Portrait of Benson
Benson's birthplace. From the book Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother
Benson, aged 5, with Beth at the Chancery, Lincoln, in 1876. From the book Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother
Benson in 1889, aged 17, as Steerer in the St George at Eton. From the book Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother
Science fiction
Historical fiction
Contemporary fiction
Children's books
Devotional works
Apologetic works
Plays
Selected articles
Other
