Faith & Reason

FAITH & REASON THE JOURNAL OF CHRISTENDOM COLLEGE Summer 2003| Vol. XXVIII, No. 2 Robert Hugh Benson’s Life and Letters, On the Centenary of His Conversion1 Paschal Baumstein, O.S.B. N 11 SEPTEMBER 1903, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, A SON OF AN ANGLICAN ARCH- bishop of Canterbury made his submission to Rome.2 The conversion of 1903 won immediate prominence in the religious press, where readers learned that this was a double defection: the subject was not only of a prominent Anglican family, he was also an ordained priest of the State Church. At the center of this furor was a slight man, of modest height, fair-haired, two months short of his thirty-second birthday. He was Robert Hugh Benson, soon to become the most prominent Catholic novelist of Edwardian England, indeed the best-selling author of explicitly Catholic literature in English of the frst half of the twentieth century. Today, however, a century after his reception as a Roman Catholic, Benson is seldom read; his name is restricted to Catholic trivia games, and his life, once internationally lauded, is largely forgotten. Why is this? Why do people today no longer read Robert Hugh Benson? There is indeed reason for this neglect, but there is also a compelling argument that he should continue to be read. Hugh, born in 1871, was the fourth and youngest son of Edward White Benson (1829-1896), who would hold the bishopric of Canterbury from 1882-1896.3 With his wife, Mary (Sidgwick), the Archbishop sired six children in all, starting in 1860: two sons, two daughters, then two additional sons.4 The frst-born, Martin (1860-1878), was esteemed for his brilliance of intellect and character. He was a child of exceptional prospect, sadly felled by a fever at age seventeen, while a senior schoolboy at Winchester.5 Nonetheless, his promise had been suffcient to set the standard to which all the Benson children would aspire. Arthur Christopher (1862-1925), the second son, would distinguish himself as a Master at Eton (1885-1903) and at Magdalene College (Cambridge, 1915-1925), and act as co-editor of the correspondence of Queen Victoria (1907).6 As an adult, Arthur was the only sibling to be particularly companionable with Hugh. Neverthe- less, in assessing his younger brother, Arthur proved severe and often intolerant. His attitude mellowed somewhat after Hugh’s death, however. The two Benson sisters, Elinor (1863-1890)7 and Margaret (1865-1916),8 seem to have had relatively little infuence upon Hugh. Yet it should be acknowledged that Margaret did exert some sway by chastising her youngest brother with “Temper Tickets,” citing him for each of his ungentlemanly displays in youth. Edward Frederick (1867-1940), the ffth- born child, aspired to a career in Greek archaeology; more notable among his diverse talents, however, was facility as a light novelist. Finally, he became the 645th mayor Robert Hugh Benson of Rye of the Cinque Ports (1934-1937), whereupon he turn the stammer into an integral element of his native won note by declining a baronage on the grounds that it charm; he put this seeming defect, as it randomly ap- would have required him to attend the (anticipated) coro- peared, to good and effective use throughout his life. nation of Edward VIII. That, he surmised, would have been To understand the dis- simply too boring to endure. tinctive turn of Hugh Benson’s Hugh Benson’s proposed paradigm mind, consider how he intro- The Benson home, duces the protagonist of his then, included an archbishop, a of religious maturation is a vital 1910 novel, None Other Gods. future don, and a mayor; fve young man, marked by humor and The fgure of Frank Guise- of the siblings would be pub- ley is used to trace the soul’s lished novelists; three would fun, untainted by convention. Benson development through purga- produce memoirs and biogra- saw his man of religion as a person tive and illuminative stages to phies as well. Margaret, fur- union with God. Yet Benson thermore, became the frst ordinary in his circumstances, but one establishes Frank’s character woman to oversee a major dig who would be made extraordinary by a without an explicitly religious in Egyptian antiquities.9 The context. Instead, Guiseley is Bensons were a distinguished virile spiritual musculature born of his introduced as the perpetra- lot. Indeed, when they were strenuous gift of himself to God. tor of one of the great pranks but children, the six siblings in the lore of Cambridge: the frst issued their own newslet- “Bread and Butter Affair” ter, the Saturday Magazine, as of Hilary Term 1900.11 This a medium for their stories, plays, and poetry, as well as was a frst-year boy’s successful effort to tease his col- family news. Hugh’s contributions to the Saturday Maga- lege’s annoying senior dean, Mr. Mackintosh. Guiseley zine (consisting of both text and illustrations) expressed is described as having planted about town a quantity of his own rather mythic and extremely violent and bloody buttered slices of bread, individually wrapped, tied with world of fantasy and chivalry. string, each labeled with the address of Mr. Mackintosh. In consequence, Mackintosh found himself afficted by Reminiscences of Hugh’s youth center upon two a succession of kind people at his door, each of whom qualities: self-will and charm. One story recounts that was kindly returning a supposedly lost package. Presum- young Hugh, still residing in the nursery, had refused mi- ably, in consequence, the annoying Mr. Mackintosh was nor roles in his brothers’ games, saying that he would be himself annoyed.12 no man’s “deputy sub-sub-bootboy.” Frederick Benson writes, “for independence, for knowing what he wanted, Rather than a dreary, self-absorbed and aloof fg- and for a perfectly fearless disregard of other people’s ure of piety, Hugh Benson’s proposed paradigm of reli- opinions, [Hugh] was, for a boy of nine, wholly unique... gious maturation is a vital young man, marked by humor [It always] was necessary to convince him frst, and no and fun, untainted by convention. Benson saw his man amount of bawling or insistence would make him alter of religion as a person ordinary in his circumstances, but his mind if he did not agree.”10 From an early age, Hugh one who would be made extraordinary by a virile spiri- had his own direction and ambitions. tual musculature born of his strenuous gift of himself to God. This was to be a recurring theme in Benson’s life Nonetheless, although his brothers recalled him and writing. as singularly endearing (unless crossed), as imaginative and amusing, even those closest to Hugh could be un- Robert Hugh Benson’s own maturation was per- sure of how to appraise him. For example, from an early haps more measured, progressing incrementally, some- age he displayed an intermittent stammer; it surfaced ir- times seemingly without direction. He was an undis- regularly and inconsistently, leading to accusations that tinguished student. In youth, Hugh longed to attend he had created this impairment for effect. Its endurance Winchester, but was sent to Eton (1885), where it was through more than forty years seems to belie that charge, hoped that he might be stimulated to better scholarship. but it may at least be conceded that Hugh managed to He did take Eton’s Hervey Prize (1889) in poetry (for a 2 work on Damien of Molokai),13 but that was to prove of the Resurrection at Mirfeld (f. 1892). Always a loner, his greatest - and virtually his sole - achievement there. Benson seems to have employed Mirfeld less for com- Indeed, he only learned of the prize after weak scholar- munity life than for study and for the refnement of his ship led to his coming down early. The archbishop al- religious thought, an endeavor that would culminate in ready had withdrawn the boy, entrusting him instead to a his submission to Rome. The Anglican missionary Ed- crammer (1889-1890). Rather than aspiring to university, ward Bickersteth laments that Hugh “came to Mirfeld Hugh had set his sights on the civil service, anticipating with certain tendencies which we were able to restrain an Indian posting. The crammer at Wren’s was hired to but not eradicate.”14 Signifcantly, however, Mirfeld did facilitate this, but Hugh still failed the entry examination, allow Benson the opportunity to turn seriously to writ- and was denied a civil appointment. Nevertheless, the ing. year would not prove a complete loss, since at Wren’s Hugh was exposed to J.H. Shorthouse’s passionate novel, Up until this point, the adult life of Hugh Benson John Inglesant, a volume he would credit thenceforth with was peripatetic. His four years at Mirfeld would seem awakening his spiritual inclinations. a rather stable period; yet virtually from the beginning, Hugh spent his time there searching for something else, Shorthouse’s book may have sparked Hugh’s reli- seeking to defne the calling that, he came to believe, was gious proclivities, but its impact was not immediate. Af- not contained in Anglican ministry. Hugh reports that ter Wren’s, the archbishop sent his youngest son to Cam- as he meandered toward the Holy See it was with “noth- bridge (1890-1893). There, Hugh matriculated at Trinity ing more than the deepest possible conviction-[there in classics, where, once again, he began earning an un- was] no emotionalism or sense of relief, or anything of distinguished record. In consequence, he determined to that kind.”15 In mid-1903, Benson simply recognized the read theology instead.

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