Edwin Keppel Bennett
Encyclopedia
Edwin Keppel Bennett, noms de plume: Francis Bennett, Francis Keppel (26 September 1887 13 June 1958), was an English writer, poet, Germanist, and a prominent academic. He served as the president of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
between 1948 and 1956.
, England, the son of Alfred Hockey Bennett, a confectioner, and his wife Emilie, née Keppel. He was educated at Elm House School, Wareham, under A.E. Skewes; and at the Universität Straßburg, Germany (now in France), under Professor Bartholdy. He entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
as a student on October 1, 1914, receiving his B.A. in 1919 (Schuldham Plate, Gonville and Caius College’s most prestigious undergraduate award, 1921); and M.A. in 1923. As Ramadge Student, 1921–1923, Bennett was the editor of the Caian, a College magazine; during the Lent term of 1922 he delivered a lecture on ‘Poetry and Pessimism’. In 1923 he became ‘unofficial fellow’ of the College and a Cambridge University lecturer in German. Official fellowship of the College was bestowed on him in 1926, together with the position of Tutor (Senior Tutor, 1931). Bennett resigned from the post of Senior Tutor in 1952, during his presidency of the College.
During the First World War Bennett served in an intelligence unit of the British Army in the rank of second lieutenant (1916–1918), mainly in Palestine.
Bennett’s first book, Built in Jerusalem’s Wall: A Book in praise of Jerusalem, was published under the pseudonym ‘Francis Keppel’ in 1920. His A History of the German “Novelle” from Goethe to Thomas Mann was brought out by Cambridge University Press
in 1934 (2nd ed., revised and continued by H.M. Waidson, London, Cambridge University Press, 1961); an important study of George
, Stefan George: A Critical Study, appeared under the imprint of in 1954, in a series edited by Erich Heller
. Bennett was Erich Heller’s doctoral guide at Cambridge; he died in 1958 leaving a large part of the residue of his estate to Gonville and Caius College.
Some of Bennett’s poems are published in Edward Davison, comp., Cambridge Poets, 1914–1920: An Anthology (Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons, 1920). In the Michaelmas 1920 edition of the Caian (vol. 29, p. 29) there appears Bennett’s poem entitled ‘The Stranger’:
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
between 1948 and 1956.
Biography
Bennett was born at Wareham, DorsetWareham, Dorset
Wareham is an historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles southwest of Poole.-Situation and geography:...
, England, the son of Alfred Hockey Bennett, a confectioner, and his wife Emilie, née Keppel. He was educated at Elm House School, Wareham, under A.E. Skewes; and at the Universität Straßburg, Germany (now in France), under Professor Bartholdy. He entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
as a student on October 1, 1914, receiving his B.A. in 1919 (Schuldham Plate, Gonville and Caius College’s most prestigious undergraduate award, 1921); and M.A. in 1923. As Ramadge Student, 1921–1923, Bennett was the editor of the Caian, a College magazine; during the Lent term of 1922 he delivered a lecture on ‘Poetry and Pessimism’. In 1923 he became ‘unofficial fellow’ of the College and a Cambridge University lecturer in German. Official fellowship of the College was bestowed on him in 1926, together with the position of Tutor (Senior Tutor, 1931). Bennett resigned from the post of Senior Tutor in 1952, during his presidency of the College.
During the First World War Bennett served in an intelligence unit of the British Army in the rank of second lieutenant (1916–1918), mainly in Palestine.
Bennett’s first book, Built in Jerusalem’s Wall: A Book in praise of Jerusalem, was published under the pseudonym ‘Francis Keppel’ in 1920. His A History of the German “Novelle” from Goethe to Thomas Mann was brought out by Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
in 1934 (2nd ed., revised and continued by H.M. Waidson, London, Cambridge University Press, 1961); an important study of George
Stefan George
Stefan Anton George was a German poet, editor, and translator.-Biography:George was born in Bingen in Germany in 1868. He spent time in Paris, where he was among the writers and artists who attended the Tuesday soireés held by the poet Stéphane Mallarmé. He began to publish poetry in the 1890s,...
, Stefan George: A Critical Study, appeared under the imprint of in 1954, in a series edited by Erich Heller
Erich Heller
Erich Heller was a British essayist, known particularly for his critical studies in German-language philosophy and literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.- Biography :...
. Bennett was Erich Heller’s doctoral guide at Cambridge; he died in 1958 leaving a large part of the residue of his estate to Gonville and Caius College.
Some of Bennett’s poems are published in Edward Davison, comp., Cambridge Poets, 1914–1920: An Anthology (Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons, 1920). In the Michaelmas 1920 edition of the Caian (vol. 29, p. 29) there appears Bennett’s poem entitled ‘The Stranger’: