William Benson
Encyclopedia
William Benson was a talented amateur architect and an ambitious and self-serving Whig
place-holder in the government of George I
. In 1718, Benson arranged to displace the aged Sir Christopher Wren as Surveyor General of the Royal Works
, a project in which he had the assistance of John Aislabie
, according to Nicholas Hawksmoor
, who was deprived of his double post to provide places for Benson's brother.
as a young man, which was extended to a prolonged visit to Hanover
, the seat of the Elector, who was next in line to the British throne, where Benson paid assiduous court, and to Stockholm
, far from the usual beaten track. In London he published a Whig tract, that offered a warning against Jacobitism
and a polemic against Divine Right
of kingship in a Letter to Sir J[acob] B[ankes]; it reached its eleventh edition in 1711 and was translated into French.
Benson's interests extended to hydraulics (Colvin 1993). He carried out a project to bring piped water to Shaftesbury
; according to a memoir of the hydraulics engineer John Theophilus Desaguliers
, it was actually the invention of Mr Holland, the modest curate of Shaftesbury, but Benson took the credit, which resulted in his election as Whig Member of Parliament
in 1716. With the "Water Engine" plans in hand, he gave directions for waterworks to be built for the Elector George at Herrenhausen
, Hanover, borrowing Mr Holland's smith and foreman; they resulted in the largest fountain in the gardens. The main jet, expected to rise a hundred feet, merely spurted a disappointing ten. Benson ingratiated himself with the Elector and his mother the Electress Sophia
at the time of his visit in 1704-06, pressing unwanted gifts upon the Electress.
Returning to London with the fresh impressions of innovative neo-Palladian constructions currently afoot at Herrenhausen, in 1707 he married a wealthy heiress from Bristol and received from his father purchases of land in Wiltshire
to the value of £5000. The following February he rented the classical Caroline Amesbury Abbey
, Wiltshire, then attributed to Inigo Jones
, on a twenty-one-year lease, and in 1709 he set to work designing Wilbury House for himself on a neighboring property, which he purchased that year from Hon. John Fiennes Wilbury, the very earliest example of neo-Palladianism in England, was a modest villa
of one storey, nine bays in length, with a pedimented portico over the three central bays. Above the simply framed windows isolated bas-relief tablets were inserted in the wall. Small windows in a low rusticated
basement lit service areas. Chimney stacks stood at the ends of the angled roofs. A central balustraded belvedere
with a dome raised on columns crowned the elevation. In this manner Wilbury was illustrated in Colen Campbell
's first volume of Vitruvius Britannicus (1715, plates 51-52), credited to Benson as inventor and builder. As Surveyor, Benson appointed the professional Campbell Deputy Surveyor and Chief Clerk.
As Surveyor, Benson's months in office proved disastrous for the professional staff. Howard Colvin
noted that "Benson's surveyorship lasted for fifteen months, in the course of which he sacked his ablest subordinates, declared war on his closest colleagues, infuriated the Treasury and finally brought down upon himself the wrath of the House of Lords
for falsely insisting that their Chamber was in imminent danger of collapse." The only lasting work produced under Benson's Surveyorship was the suite of state rooms at Kensington Palace
.
After he was relieved of his position in July 1719, in a flurry of satirical pamphlets, Benson involved himself in the creation of Stourhead
, designed by Campbell for Benson's brother-in-law, Henry Hoare. Alexander Pope
later ridiculed him in The Dunciad
(III.321, IV.111-12) for having erected a monument to John Milton
in Westminster Abbey
, 1737, then having turned and honored with a bust by Michael Rysbrack, a distinctly minor writer of Latin verses, Dr Arthur Johnston (1587–1641); in the elaborate procession attending the Goddess Dulness, Benson appeared: "On two unequal crutches propt he came, Milton's on this, on that one Johnston's name" (Dunciad IV.111-12).
In 1734 Benson sold Wilbury to his nephew Henry II Hoare and retired to a house in Wimbledon
. A product of Benson's retirement was Letters concerning Poetical Translations, and Virgil's and Milton's Arts of Verse &c. (1739), where his unlucky pronouncement (page 61) that "the principal Advantage Virgil has over Milton is Virgil's Rhyme", can hardly have failed to catch Pope's eye, if the volume fell into his hands while he was revising his Dunciad.
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
place-holder in the government of George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
. In 1718, Benson arranged to displace the aged Sir Christopher Wren as Surveyor General of the Royal Works
Office of Works
The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings...
, a project in which he had the assistance of John Aislabie
John Aislabie
John Aislabie or Aslabie was a British politician, notable for his involvement in the South Sea Bubble and for creating the water garden at Studley Royal.-Background and education:...
, according to Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor was a British architect born in Nottinghamshire, probably in East Drayton.-Life:Hawksmoor was born in Nottinghamshire in 1661, into a yeoman farming family, almost certainly in East Drayton, Nottinghamshire. On his death he was to leave property at nearby Ragnall, Dunham and a...
, who was deprived of his double post to provide places for Benson's brother.
Life
Benson was the eldest son of Sir William Benson, Sheriff of London in 1706-07. He made a Grand TourGrand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
as a young man, which was extended to a prolonged visit to Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, the seat of the Elector, who was next in line to the British throne, where Benson paid assiduous court, and to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, far from the usual beaten track. In London he published a Whig tract, that offered a warning against Jacobitism
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
and a polemic against Divine Right
Divine Right
Divine Right may refer to:* The Divine right of kings, the doctrine that a monarch derives his or her power directly from God* Episcopal polity, the doctrine that is required in the church jure divino, i.e...
of kingship in a Letter to Sir J[acob] B[ankes]; it reached its eleventh edition in 1711 and was translated into French.
Benson's interests extended to hydraulics (Colvin 1993). He carried out a project to bring piped water to Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury is a town in Dorset, England, situated on the A30 road near the Wiltshire border 20 miles west of Salisbury. The town is built 718 feet above sea level on the side of a chalk and greensand hill, which is part of Cranborne Chase, the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset...
; according to a memoir of the hydraulics engineer John Theophilus Desaguliers
John Theophilus Desaguliers
John Theophilus Desaguliers was a natural philosopher born in France. He was a member of the Royal Society of London beginning 29 July 1714. He was presented with the Royal Society's highest honour, the Copley Medal, in 1734, 1736 and 1741, with the 1741 award being for his discovery of the...
, it was actually the invention of Mr Holland, the modest curate of Shaftesbury, but Benson took the credit, which resulted in his election as Whig 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,...
in 1716. With the "Water Engine" plans in hand, he gave directions for waterworks to be built for the Elector George at Herrenhausen
Herrenhausen
Herrenhausen is an area of the German city Hanover which is most notable for the baroque Herrenhausen Gardens.Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg died in Herrenhausen Castle and his grandson King George II of Great Britain was born there. During the Second World War the castle was...
, Hanover, borrowing Mr Holland's smith and foreman; they resulted in the largest fountain in the gardens. The main jet, expected to rise a hundred feet, merely spurted a disappointing ten. Benson ingratiated himself with the Elector and his mother the Electress Sophia
Sophia of Hanover
Sophia of the Palatinate was an heiress to the crowns of England and Ireland and later the crown of Great Britain. She was declared heiress presumptive by the Act of Settlement 1701...
at the time of his visit in 1704-06, pressing unwanted gifts upon the Electress.
Returning to London with the fresh impressions of innovative neo-Palladian constructions currently afoot at Herrenhausen, in 1707 he married a wealthy heiress from Bristol and received from his father purchases of land in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
to the value of £5000. The following February he rented the classical Caroline Amesbury Abbey
Amesbury Abbey
Amesbury Abbey, also known as the Abbey of St Mary and St Melor, was a Benedictine abbey at Amesbury in Wiltshire, founded by Queen Ælfthryth in about the year 979 on what may have been the site of an earlier monastery....
, Wiltshire, then attributed to Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
, on a twenty-one-year lease, and in 1709 he set to work designing Wilbury House for himself on a neighboring property, which he purchased that year from Hon. John Fiennes Wilbury, the very earliest example of neo-Palladianism in England, was a modest villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
of one storey, nine bays in length, with a pedimented portico over the three central bays. Above the simply framed windows isolated bas-relief tablets were inserted in the wall. Small windows in a low rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
basement lit service areas. Chimney stacks stood at the ends of the angled roofs. A central balustraded belvedere
Belvedere (structure)
Belvedere is an architectural term adopted from Italian , which refers to any architectural structure sited to take advantage of such a view. A belvedere may be built in the upper part of a building so as to command a fine view...
with a dome raised on columns crowned the elevation. In this manner Wilbury was illustrated in Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
's first volume of Vitruvius Britannicus (1715, plates 51-52), credited to Benson as inventor and builder. As Surveyor, Benson appointed the professional Campbell Deputy Surveyor and Chief Clerk.
As Surveyor, Benson's months in office proved disastrous for the professional staff. Howard Colvin
Howard Colvin
Sir Howard Montagu Colvin, CVO, CBE , was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field.-Life and works:...
noted that "Benson's surveyorship lasted for fifteen months, in the course of which he sacked his ablest subordinates, declared war on his closest colleagues, infuriated the Treasury and finally brought down upon himself the wrath of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
for falsely insisting that their Chamber was in imminent danger of collapse." The only lasting work produced under Benson's Surveyorship was the suite of state rooms at Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
.
After he was relieved of his position in July 1719, in a flurry of satirical pamphlets, Benson involved himself in the creation of Stourhead
Stourhead
Stourhead is a 2,650 acre estate at the source of the River Stour near Mere, Wiltshire, England. The estate includes a Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, gardens, farmland, and woodland...
, designed by Campbell for Benson's brother-in-law, Henry Hoare. Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
later ridiculed him in The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
(III.321, IV.111-12) for having erected a monument to John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, 1737, then having turned and honored with a bust by Michael Rysbrack, a distinctly minor writer of Latin verses, Dr Arthur Johnston (1587–1641); in the elaborate procession attending the Goddess Dulness, Benson appeared: "On two unequal crutches propt he came, Milton's on this, on that one Johnston's name" (Dunciad IV.111-12).
In 1734 Benson sold Wilbury to his nephew Henry II Hoare and retired to a house in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
. A product of Benson's retirement was Letters concerning Poetical Translations, and Virgil's and Milton's Arts of Verse &c. (1739), where his unlucky pronouncement (page 61) that "the principal Advantage Virgil has over Milton is Virgil's Rhyme", can hardly have failed to catch Pope's eye, if the volume fell into his hands while he was revising his Dunciad.
Further reading
- Bold, John and John Reeves. Wilton House and English Palladianism: Some Wiltshire Houses (London: H.M.S.O.) 1998.