C. 1800-1843

E. W. BENSON SENIOR

3

Skepper, and secondly Basil Montagu, Q.C. Her daughter by the previous marriage married Bryan Waller Procter, the poet, better known as Barry Cornwall. Thus the Archbishop's second cousin was Adelaide Anne Procter, the poetical writer.

Mrs Basil Montagu's daughter, Emily Montagu, married a Count William de Viry, and secondly the Count de Revel; her children, also the Archbishop's second cousins, were Albert de Viry, an officer in the French Army, now dead, and Marie de Viry, who is still alive as Sœur Marguerite in a Convent at Annecy, of which she has been Superior.

Mrs White Benson was left a young widow with an only son, Edward White Benson (1800-1843), my grandfather, a clever, sickly child; he received a careful scientific education. The movements of the pair are difficult to trace. Mrs White Benson, in the hopes of finding health for the frail child, took houses in various parts of the country. We hear of the little boy going to Bishopthorpe and being petted by Archbishop Vernon Harcourt and his daughters; I have still in my possession some books given him by the Countess of Mansfield, a daughter of Archbishop Markham, who had known Captain Benson. They visited London, and met Mr Wordsworth the poet at the Montagus' house. The boy, who little dreamed that his own son was to be Archbishop of Canterbury, left on record that the most awe-inspiring sight he had ever seen was Archbishop Vernon Harcourt of York, in his wig, descending from his carriage at the west door of York Minster.

Mrs White Benson eventually married the Rev. Stephen Jackson, curate-in-charge of Sheldon in Warwickshire: here her son was brought up, writing and reading much, and practising chemical experiments in the production of colours. Edward White Benson, possessing a modest

competence out of the wreck of his father's fortune, married young, a Miss Harriet Baker,-and endeavoured to supplement his little income by setting up as a chemical manufacturer in Birmingham. It is curious to note that the Baker family were staunch Unitarians; but Harriet Baker joined the Church of England before her marriage to my grandfather, who was a strong Evangelical.

They were married in August 1826, and my father was born on July 14th, 1829, being the eldest child. The house in which he first saw the light was No. 72, Lombard Street, Birmingham, then a pleasant street of old-fashioned houses, with gardens; it is now overbuilt with factories.

My grandfather was an author; he published two books, Education at Home and Essays on the Works of God, besides being a contributor to scientific journals and encyclopaedias. Botany was also a hobby of his, and he was gratified by receiving the diploma of Fellow from the Royal Botanical Society of Edinburgh. The Osmunda Regalis was his favourite plant, and in the picture we possess of him he is represented as sitting in his red leather armchair with a sprig of this noble fern between his fingers. The beds of Osmunda Regalis in the wet Cornish valleys were always a delight to my father from early association, and not only would he not allow us to pick off sprays, but he used to be extremely indignant with collectors who dug up specimens.

My grandfather was a considerable inventor, his chief discoveries being the "nitric acid dipping-bath" for electrotyping purposes, a method of producing soda carbonate, a process for manufacturing white-lead which is still known by his name, a process for the manufacture of cobalt, certain photographic improvements, and several other minor inventions. But he was a most unbusiness-like man, and, though considerable fortunes were made out of