Person    | Male  Born 6/7/1824  Died 14/1/1915

Richard Meux Benson

Categories: Religion

Founder of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, popularly known as the Cowley Fathers.

In addition to the information shown on his Wikipedia page, Richard Meux Benson was born on 6 July 1824 in Bolton House, Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London, a son of Thomas Starling Benson (1775-1858) and Elizabeth Benson née Meux (1793-1858). UCL gives "son of Thomas Benson, the high sheriff of Surrey, and Elizabeth (née Meux) of the wealthy Meux brewing family". On 6 August 1824 he was baptised in St George's Church, Bloomsbury, where the baptismal register shows his family were living in Russell Square and that his father was a merchant.

On 9 June 1843 he attended Christ Church College at Oxford University where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1847 and his Master of Arts (MA) in 1850. On 23 July 1845 he applied to be admitted into the Freedom of the City of London by patrimony in the Worshipful Company of Drapers. He was the Curate of St Mark's Church, Surbiton, Surrey, from 1848 to 1851 and in the 1851 census he was described as the Perpetual Curate of Cowley, residing in Cowley, Oxford, Oxfordshire. On 5 March 1856 he was due to stand trial at Oxford Assizes for the offence of solemnising matrimony without publication of Banns or Licence, however the petitioner removed their petition.

When the 1861 census was undertaken he was shown as the Incumbent of Cowley, boarding jointly with James Percy Kane (1833-1919) the Curate of Cowley, at Henley Terrace, Iffley Road, Cowley, Oxford, the home of a Martha Hogg who was a lodging house keeper. He was still shown as residing in Iffley Road, Cowley, in the 1868 electoral registers.

In the 1881 census he is described as the Vicar of Cowley St. John, and was living at The Mission House, 16 Marston Street, Cowley, where he is shown as the head of the property in which there were 20 other clergymen who were listed as boarders.

He was shown as a Priest (Church of England) in the 1901 census visiting the home of the Reverend Hanworth Hart Rackham (1860-1916) at St Paul's Vicarage, Edgware Road, Swindon, Wiltshire.

He died, aged 90 years, on 14 January 1915 in the Mission House, Marston Road, Cowley, his death being registered in the 1st quarter of 1915 in the Headington registration district, Oxfordshire and his body was buried on 16 January 1915 in the churchyard of St Mary and St John Church, Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1UH.

He is commemorated as Richard Benson on the plaque at St George's, Bloomsbury.

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Richard Meux Benson

Commemorated ati

St George's, Bloomsbury

The Parish Church of St Georges Bloomsbury Built 1720 - 30. Architect: Nicho...

Read More

Other Subjects

Canon Joseph Robinson

Canon Joseph Robinson

Joseph Robinson was born on 23 February 1927, the elder of the two children of Thomas Robinson and Mary Robinson née Wright. His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1927 in the Wigan Registr...

Person, Liveries & Guilds, Religion

1 memorial
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Bishop and opponent of apartheid and campaigner on many other causes: AIDS, homophobia, etc.  Received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. His Wikipedia page and obituary confirm that he died, aged 90 ...

Person, Peace, Race Issues, Religion, Seriously Famous, Social Welfare, South Africa

1 memorial
Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief

Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief

Now known as the World Jewish Fund.  Established in 1933 as the Central British Fund, the charity rescued over 100,000 Jewish people from Germany before WWII and was also largely responsible for or...

Group, Religion, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Christian Science

Christian Science

Religious sect founded in America by Mary Baker Eddy. Adherents subscribe to a form of philosophical idealism, believing that reality is purely spiritual and the material world an illusion. This in...

Group, Religion, USA

1 memorial
Bishop Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram

Bishop Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram

Bishop of London (1901-39), Chairman of the Trustees of Whiteley Village. Born and died in Worcestershire.

Person, Religion

1 memorial