Henry Roxby Benson

Henry Roxby Benson
Born2 November 1818 (1818-11-02)[1]
Camberwell, Surrey[2]
Died23 January 1892 (1892-01-24) (aged 73)[1]
Fairyhill, Gower, Swansea
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
RankGeneral
Unit17th Lancers
Battles / warsCrimean War

Henry Roxby Benson CB (2 November 1818 – 23 January 1892) was a 19th-century British General.

Life

Benson was born Camberwell into a distinguished Welsh family, the second son of merchant Thomas Starling Benson and his second wife, Elizabeth Meux, daughter of Richard Meux. Richard Meux Benson was his younger brother.[3][4] He attended St. John's College, Cambridge.[1]

He was gazetted into the 17th Lancers[5] as a cornet on 31 January 1840[6] and rose steadily: lieutenant, 15 April 1842;[7] captain, 27 June 1845[8] and major on 23 October 1854.[9] He commanded the 17th Lancers in the Crimea from 14 January 1855, including at the Battle of the Tchernaya and the siege and fall of Sebastopol, and commanded the squadron of the Light Brigade in the night attack on the Russian outposts on 19 February 1855. For his service in the Crimea he received the medal with clasp, the fifth class of the Order of the Medjidie, and the Turkish medal.[10] On 30 September 1856 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 17th.[11] Subsequent service in India (where he commanded the 2nd Cavalry at Malwa[12]) lead to further promotions, notably Colonel of the 7th Hussars.[13] Appointed CB in 1861[14] he continued to rise until his final promotion to the rank of General twenty years later.

Family

Benson married in 1845 Mary Henrietta Wightman, second daughter of William Wightman the judge.[15] Their son Henry Wightman Benson was also a distinguished officer.[16] He was the third son, and like the second son William Denman, who was called to the bar, and the fifth son Florance John, studied at the University of Oxford.[17][18][19]

Mary Henrietta's sister, Frances Lucy Wightman, married Matthew Arnold. The Arnold's daughter Eleanore Mary Caroline was married in 1889 to Armine Wodehouse, after her father's death, from a house taken by Benson in London.[20][21]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Benson, Henry Roxby (BN838HR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681–1930
  3. ^ London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813–1917
  4. ^ Burke, John Bernard (1865). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. 27. Ed. Harrison. p. 759. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  5. ^ "The 17th/21st Lancers" Ffrench Blake, R. L. V.: London, Hamish Hamilton, 1968 ISBN 978-0-241-01543-8
  6. ^ "No. 19819". The London Gazette. 31 January 1840. p. 199.
  7. ^ "No. 20091". The London Gazette. 15 April 1842. p. 1047.
  8. ^ "No. 20483". The London Gazette. 27 June 1845. p. 1895.
  9. ^ "No. 21629". The London Gazette. 17 November 1854. p. 3517.
  10. ^ Hart's Army List (1891) p. 159, n. 2.
  11. ^ "No. 21934". The London Gazette. 24 October 1856. p. 3466.
  12. ^ The Times, Saturday, 30 January 1892; pg. 7; Issue 33548; col B Obituary
  13. ^ Hussars Colonels
  14. ^ Bulletins and Other State Intelligence 1861
  15. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine (London, England). F. Jefferies. 1845. p. 522.
  16. ^ Details of son's career[dead link‍]
  17. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Benson, William Denman" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  18. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Benson, Henry Weightman" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  19. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Benson, Florance John" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
  20. ^ Patrick McCarthy, Mrs. Matthew Arnold, Texas Studies in Literature and Language Vol. 12, No. 4 (Winter 1971), pp. 647–662, at pp. 652–653. Published by: University of Texas Press JSTOR 40755190
  21. ^ Harding, Joan N. (1986). From Fox How to Fairy Hill: a study of Matthew Arnold's in-laws, with special reference to the Bensons of Fairy Hill, Gower, South Wales. D. Brown. p. 54.
Honorary titles
Preceded by Colonel of the 7th (The Queen's Own) Hussars
1879–1884 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Colonel of the 17th (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Lancers
1884–1892 		Succeeded by