William Benson (1682 – 2 February 1754) was a talented amateur architect andWhig politician who sat in theHouse of Commons from 1715 to 1719. In 1718, he arranged to displace the agedSir Christopher Wren asSurveyor of the King's Works, but his short time in that post was not a success.
Benson was the eldest son of Sir William Benson,Sheriff of London in 1706–07, and his wife Martha Austin, daughter of John Austin, jeweller of London. He made aGrand Tour as a young man, which was extended to a prolonged visit in 1704–1706 toHanover, the seat ofthe Elector, who was next in line to the British throne. He paid assiduous court and ingratiated himself with the Elector and his mother theElectress Sophia, pressing unwanted gifts upon the Electress. He also went toStockholm, far from the usual beaten track. In London he published a Whig tract that offered a warning againstJacobitism, and a polemic againstDivine Right of kingship in aLetter to Sir J[acob] B[ankes] addressed transparently toSir Jacob Bancks; it reached its eleventh edition in 1711 and was translated into French.[1]
Returning to London with fresh impressions of innovativeneo-Palladian constructions currently afoot at Herrenhausen,[2] in 1707 he married Eleanor Earle, the daughter ofJoseph Earle, a wealthy merchant of Bristol; and received from his father purchases of land in Wiltshire to the value of £5,000. The following February he rented the classical CarolineAmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, then attributed toInigo Jones,[3] on a twenty-one-year lease, and in 1709 he set to work designingWilbury House[4] for himself on a nearby property atNewton Tony, which he purchased that year from Hon. John Fiennes.[5]
Wilbury, the earliest example of neo-Palladianism in England,[6] was a modestvilla 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 lowrusticated basement lit service areas. Chimney stacks stood at the ends of the angled roofs. A central balustradedbelvedere with a dome raised on columns crowned the elevation. In this manner Wilbury was illustrated inColen Campbell's first volume ofVitruvius Britannicus (1715, plates 51–52), credited to Benson as inventor and builder.[7] Later, as Surveyor, Benson appointed the professional Campbell Deputy Surveyor and Chief Clerk.[8]
In 1709 he was appointedHigh Sheriff of Wiltshire. His interests extended to hydraulics.[9] He carried out a project to bring piped water toShaftesbury; according to a memoir of the hydraulics engineerJohn Theophilus Desaguliers,[10] 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.
Benson was electedMember of Parliament forShaftesbury at the1715 general election.[11] In 1716 he attendedGeorge I on a visit to Hanover, where with "Water Engine" plans in hand, he gave directions for waterworks to be built for the Elector George atHerrenhausen, 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.[12]
In 1717 he was offered in reversion the post ofAuditor of the Imprests, and in 1718 he was appointedSurveyor of the King's Works in place ofSir Christopher Wren. In achieving this appointment he had the assistance ofJohn Aislabie, according toNicholas Hawksmoor, who was deprived of his double post to provide places for Benson's brother.[13] In accepting a government post he had to stand again for Parliament at Shaftesbury. He won the by-election on 21 November 1718 but was unseated on petition on 24 January 1719.[11]
As Surveyor, Benson's months in office proved disastrous for the professional staff.Howard Colvin noted[14] 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[15] and finally brought down upon himself the wrath of theHouse 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 atKensington Palace.
After he was relieved of his position in July 1719, in a flurry of satirical pamphlets, Benson involved himself in the creation ofStourhead, designed by Campbell for Benson's brother-in-law, Henry Hoare.Alexander Pope later ridiculed him inThe Dunciad (III.321, IV.111–12) for having erected a monument toJohn Milton inWestminster Abbey, 1737, then having turned and honoured with a bust byMichael Rysbrack, a distinctly minor writer of Latin verses, DrArthur 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).
Benson stood for Parliament again at Shaftesbury at the1727 general election. However, he only received four votes and thereupon cut off the water supply.[11] In 1734 he sold Wilbury to his nephew Henry II Hoare and retired to a house inWimbledon. A product of Benson's retirement wasLetters concerning Poetical Translations, and Virgil's and Milton's Arts of Verse &c. (1739), where his unlucky pronouncement (page 61) that "the principal AdvantageVirgil has overMilton isVirgil's Rhyme",[16] can hardly have failed to catch Pope's eye, if the volume fell into his hands while he was revising hisDunciad. In 1735 he took over the remunerative post ofAuditor of the Imprests which he had been promised in 1717, a position he held until his death.
Benson died on 2 February 1754. He had four sons and three daughters by his first wife, and a son and daughter by his second wife Elizabeth, whom he married after Eleanor's death in 1722.[11]
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forShaftesbury 1715 – 1719 With:Edward Nicholas | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Surveyor of the King's Works 1718–1719 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Auditor of the imprests 1735–1754 (in reversion from 1717) with Thomas Foley 1735–1737 William Aislabie 1737–1754 | Succeeded by |
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