Anna Eavis, ‘The avarice and ambition of William Benson’, The Georgian Group Journal, Vol. XII, 2002, pp. 8–37 TEXT © THE AUTHORS 2002 THE AVARICE AND AMBITION OF WILLIAM BENSON ANNA EAVIS n his own lifetime William Benson’s moment of probably motivated by his desire to build a neo- Ifame came in January , as the subject of an Palladian parliament house. anonymous pamphlet: That Benson had any direct impact on the spread of neo-Palladian ideas other than his patronage of I do therefore with much contrition bewail my making Campbell through the Board of Works is, however, of contracts with deceitfulness of heart … my pride, unlikely. Howard Colvin’s comprehensive and my arrogance, my avarice and my ambition have been my downfall .. excoriating account of Benson’s surveyorship shows only too clearly that his pre-occupations were To us, however, he is also famous for building a financial and self-motivated, rather than aesthetic. precociously neo-Palladian house in , as well He did not publish on architecture, neo-Palladian or as infamous for his corrupt, incompetent and otherwise and, with the exception of Wilbury, consequently brief tenure as Surveyor-General of the appears to have left no significant buildings, either in King’s Works, which ended in his dismissal for a private or official capacity. This absence of a context deception of King and Government. Wilbury, whose for Wilbury makes the house even more startling; it elevation was claimed to be both Jonesian and appears to spring from nowhere and, as far as designed by Benson, and whose plan was based on Benson’s architectural output is concerned, to lead that of the Villa Poiana, is notable for apparently nowhere. In fact, Benson did build other houses for anticipating the neo-Palladian revival of the s. himself, but none of them survive. Despite the limited Even if one accepts Giles Worsley’s compelling survival of relevant documentation, it is possible to argument for a fluidity of ‘baroque’ and ‘neo- reconstruct them, if rather sketchily. In doing so the Palladian’ architectural styles in the late seventeenth relationship between Benson’s material and cultural and early eighteenth centuries, Wilbury, in its concerns becomes a little clearer. adaptation of earlier models, does appear Benson was born in , the eldest of children paradoxically to be looking forwards. Whether or not (Fig. ), and grew up in Bromley St Leonard, Essex, Benson was the architect, it might be supposed that at that time a village within reach of the City of he was an early champion of neo-Palladianism. At the London. His merchant father, Sir William Benson, Board of Works, his replacement of Hawksmoor with purchased the manorial rights in , acquiring a the self-proclaimed proto-Palladian Colen Campbell parcel of land that included the manor house. Benson suggests that he may have been a man with a mission. inherited the manor on the death of his father in His mad pretence that the House of Lords was on the . The estate as described in included verge of collapse, which extended to shoring it up Bromley House and gardens ‘with the Wilderness, with scaffolding and going to the lengths of Fish Ponds and Paddock, all walled in’. In addition evacuating the Lords to Westminster Hall, was were several houses and fields, a limekiln, a fishery THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XII THE AVARICE AND AMBITION OF WILLIAM BENSON Fig . The family of William Benson and an ozier ground. It is shown on John Rocque’s church, the manor house may have been built on the map of (Fig. ). The manor of Bromley St site of the west cloister range. Leonards originated as a Benedictine nunnery and A sketch plan of Bromley House is shown on Lee the topography of the Benson estate, its proximity to and Gascoyne’s Survey of Bethnal Green in the the river Lea, its rabbit warrens and fishponds, Parish of Stepney (Fig. ). Built during the s, it refreshed at every tide by means of a sluice from the was ‘a large brick edifice’, notable for its ‘imposing river, must derive in part from the conventual elevation, the number of its lofty and spacious complex. The brick boundary wall was judged by the apartments, the grandeur of its wide spiral staircase late eighteenth-century writer Daniel Lysons to be and its almost unlimited prospect over the Counties partly medieval and it probably described the of Essex, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey, with the boundaries of the monastic precinct. The only majestic Thames flowing between’. Surviving medieval building known to survive intact was St illustrations of the house show it to have combined, Mary’s, the convent chapel which became the parish in common with other gentry houses of this period, church and retained elements of its twelfth-century traditional and modern features (Figs and ). fabric until it was destroyed during the Second It conformed to an H plan, but its roof was hipped World War. Given its position in relation to the rather than gabled, and the regular fenestration THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XII THE AVARICE AND AMBITION OF WILLIAM BENSON Fig . William Benson’s Bromley estate (from John Rocque, Exact Survey of the City’s of London, Westminster ... and the Country near Ten Miles Round, ). Guildhall Library Fig . Bromley House (from William Lee & Joel Gascoyne, Survey of Bethnal Green in the Parish of Stepney, ). Guildhall Library suggests that the old-fashioned hall and chamber elevated above the river Lea, also had a large water arrangement had been rejected for a more cistern incorporated into the uppermost terrace of its symmetrical disposition of rooms. The ground floor formal gardens, and could be reached through a at Bromley House was raised over a basement range doorway and passage in the brick supporting wall of that presumably contained the service the upper garden. Its precise function is not known, accommodation. The house also incorporated but Dunstan’s description of its ‘good supply of classical features in its porch, which had rusticated excellent water’ suggests that it provided the piers and a broken pediment, and in its loggia, household with water for domestic use. If so, it was reminiscent of the monastic cloister, opening onto an unusual provision and is of interest in relation to the formal garden to the east. That the staircase was Benson’s hydraulic engineering interests at recorded as a principal feature suggests a large stair Amesbury and Shaftesbury. hall. Visitors’ memories of fine views over the Benson’s father is said to have altered the house, surrounding countryside indicate that the public perhaps adding the porch, which bore his arms. He rooms may have been placed on the upper floor. also extended the chancel of the parish church, for There may even have been a gallery above the loggia, which he held the freehold, adding a projection at as at Holland House, Kensington. The house, the east end of about ten feet square to house new THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XII THE AVARICE AND AMBITION OF WILLIAM BENSON Fig . The west front of Bromley House in , showing Sir William Benson’s porch. Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives Fig . The east front of Bromley House in , showing the loggia and St Mary’s Church with Sir William Benson’s rebuilt east end. Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XII THE AVARICE AND AMBITION OF WILLIAM BENSON altar tablets inscribed with the Commandments and Benson and Eleanor Earle. Joseph Earle settled on a painted figure of Moses. He glazed the new east the couple an estate in North Stoke, Somerset, along window with his own coat of arms, alongside those of with £ , , Eleanor’s mother’s jewels and the his wife, England, the City of London and the promise of £ , at his death. Sir William Drapers’ Company. Beneath this projecting recess he undertook to invest £ , in land and to leave his built a burial vault, in which he and his children were son £ , at his death. The landed estates were to subsequently interred. A doorway in the east wall be managed by four trustees, including Henry Hoare allowed members of the Benson family to enter the and Joseph Earle’s brother Robert, who were to vault directly from their own land without passing preserve them for the use of ‘the first and every other through the church. Another doorway, knocked son and sons of William Benson’ by Eleanor. through the medieval sedilia, gave the Bensons After the marriage, which took place ‘soon access to the chancel. That Sir William afterwards’, Sir William conveyed one half of the demonstrated his seignorial rights over the manor by manor of Poplar and Bromley to the trustees. In transforming the east end of the church is he bought, for £ , and ‘at the desire of Joseph unsurprising. He was a merchant. His wife Martha Earle and William Benson … the capital messuage was the daughter of a jeweller. To all intents and and lands of and in Newton Toney’. Before he died purposes a self-made man, who had purchased rather he bought a fee farm in the manor of Poplar and than inherited the position, he was bound to claim Bromley. In and he was selling off his the significance of his own family. stocks of iron and malt. By the estate income Although enjoying the rights deriving from the derived principally from rents, the capital now lordship of a rural manor, Sir William’s real milieu administered by the trustees being used to buy and was the City and the continental connections maintain property. In , with the purchase of afforded by trade.