Henry Benson was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 variously between 1626 and 1641.

Benson was Deputy Steward of Knaresborough

Knaresborough

Knaresborough is an old and historic market town, spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located on the River Nidd, four miles east of the centre of Harrogate.-History:...

. In 1626 he was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Knaresborough

Knaresborough (UK Parliament constituency)

Knaresborough was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, and then one MP until its abolition in 1885.-Before the Great Reform Act:...

. He was re-elected in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.

In April 1640, Benson was re-elected MP for Knareborough in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

. He was re-elected in November 1640 for the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

. However he was expelled from the House of Commons by vote on 2 November 1641 for selling protections to men who were not his servants. Benson declared that there was no better replacement for his than his son in law William Deerlove, although Deerlove's election was declared void.

Benson took arms for the King and in February 1642 was reported to be occupying Plupton tower near Knaresborough with two canon.

Benson married Elizabeth Deerlove at Knaresborough in 1633.