Dublin Look-up

[lesB]

Welcome to RootsChat Chris
It has been a while since I have looked any further into questions raised & help received on this post so excuse me if I am a bit rusty. Although I have recently received valuable help from GD Steral (post#13) regarding bith/baptism of Lieut WWH Benson son of William=Jane.

I can see from your referenced “Blog” that you are no stranger to Genealogy research. I would venture to say, by comparison that I’m a beginner!
I have found the RootsChat people who have given of their time in helping me an invaluable aid to my various lines of family research.

I would be interested in any information you may have re the Welman line.
To this end, you will need to post at least two more postings before we can use the Personal Message (PM) system for exchanging data. By use of the PM system we can exchange email addresses.

Perhaps I might start the ball rolling by asking if you have any further knowledge of the elusive (genealogy speaking) rev’d William Benson?

Les

[cgpigott]

Lt William Welborn Harlington BENSON may have arrived in Sydney instead on the ship "Houghley" on 22 Aug 1825.
He appears to have had issue by Margaret Olivia WELMAN, as follows:
1.  A son, born on board the ship "Katherine Stewart Forbes" in Sydney Harbour, 23 May 1830, 4 days before sailing on a voyage direct to England.
2.  A son, b Dublin, 18 Apr 1831 (no baptism found in Dublin Church records - perhaps instead the baptism of the previous?
3.  Welborne Eagle Albuera BENSON, bt St George's, Gravesend, 4 Jun 1834; died at sea, 4 Feb 1835, on a voyage to Van Diemen's Land.
4.  Arthur Welborne Cameron BENSON, b 29 Nov 1835; died at Millthorpe, N.S.W., 1908 Reg #10252.
5.  William Porteous McArtney Welman BENSON, b Oct 1837; of Deep Dene, Mosman, 1909; died at his residence, Braemar, Edgecliff Rd, Seathforth, near Manly, 7 Sep 1925, as the result of a tram accident, aged 87, late of H.M.'s Customs; marr Margaret GARDNER; she died at Seaforth, 7 Dec 1927, at the residence of her daughter Alice (Mrs Herbert THURLOW), beloved mother of Mrs H. HODKINSON, Mrs M. SUTHERLAND (Margaret Isabel), Mrs F. GRIFFITHS, Mrs H. THURLOW, & sons Edward, (George) Claude, (Charles) Sydney, & Harold BENSON.
6.  Rosena Dianne Olivia BENSON.
7.  Francis Napoleon Bingley GROVES BENSON; Ensign, 17th Regiment, 19 Jul 1859; transferred to the 73rd Regiment; Lieut, 8 Jul 1862; Captain, 16 Oct 1866; marr at St Anne's C.of I.), Dublin, 24 Apr 1862, Ellen Wise REVINGTON.
8.  Rubina Georgina Catherine BENSON, b Clontarf, Co Dublin, 5 May 1845, & bapt Clontarf (C.of I.), 24 Jun (see the www.irishgenealogy.ie website).

I see that William Welbore Harlington BENSON was baptised at Hillingdon, near London, 18 Sep 1807, the son of William & Jane BENSON.
He is said to have been the grandson of William BENSON of Co Down (b ca 1710), by his wife Frances McArtney PORTEOUS.

Regards,

Chris PIGOTT.

[cgpigott]

A lineage of the BENSON family can be found at this link:

http://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_family/hist_family_benson.html

Looks like Rev William BENSON, Archdeacon of Emly, was a brother of Jane BENSON, who was the wife of Charles AGAR, Achbishop of Dublin & Primate of Ireland (also the 1st Viscount Somerton and 1st Earl of Normanton - so there's a good starting point); she died 25 Oct 1826 & was buried in Westminster Cathedral.

Their father appears to have been William BENSON, of Downpatrick, Co Down, & a Merchant in Abbey St, Dublin; married Frances McArtney PORTEOUS (alias PORTIS), daur of George PORTEOUS of Belfast.

He was the youngest son of Rev Edward BENSON, Rector of Downpatrick & Prebend of Down Cathedral; he was adm Trinity College, Dublin, 1697; died 14 Sep 1741; marr Jane, daur of Rev John WINDER.

Edward was the son of William BENSON, who died 25 Jul 1685, & was buried in Down Cathedral, aged 33, by his wife Ellen HIGGINSON (marr 1675).

I expect you will want to verify the actual connection of Rev William of Emly, but that should not prove to be too difficult a task. The naming of the Australian BENSON's certainly points to this particular family pedigree.

Regards,

Chris.

[lesB]

HI Chris

Thank you for the information provided in your Welman & Benson postings. Some detail I was aware of and some not.

One of the details I was not aware of was the birth date/place info on Rubina Georgina Catherine Benson although I couldn’t find Rubina on the site reference you gave viz “(see the www.irishgenealogy.ie website)” ?

The arrival of Ensign WWH Benson on the "Hoogley" may be incorrect. Gerrie Sterel, in a private communication, advised me of a newspaper item in which an Ensign Benson arrived in Sydney Cove on the “Sesostris” on 23 Mar 1826.

Yes I agree that the naming of various Benson children does point to a family belief in a connection. One of these is WWH’s daughter Jane Normanton Barker Benson (b 17 Feb 1832 Kent). The Normanton is obviously a reference to Charles Agar’s title of 1st Duke of Normanton.
 
I am aware of the Turtlebunbury site and my hope is to prove the connection of the Rev’d William’s descendant WWH Benson to Jane Benson (sibling?) and thus connect the lineage back to Barnard Benson of the Fould born 1495. There is another Internet site “Stirnet” which sets out in an outline descendant form the connection between Barnard & Jane Benson, http://www.stirnet.com/

With your third posting, I can now send you a Personal Message advising of my email address. This address will be useful in exchanging Gedcom files, jpegs etc that might be of interest.
 
Regards, Les

[cgpigott]

There is, of course, another source that should prove very useful in confirming the lineage of the BENSON family.

All Ministers of the Established Church of England (& Ireland) were obliged to have taken a degree at an established university.

Alumni listings for Trinity College Dublin should contain the particular ministers in the Downpatrick family; and failing that, some may have received their degrees from either Oxford or Cambridge.

I know there are copies of all of these in the Society of Genealogists Library in Sydney, and probably also in the State Reference Library. If there are none near you, I can take a look for you.

I suspect that there may be BENSON family pedigrees in early editions of BURKE's Landed Gentry, etc, as well.

Regards,

Chris.

[lesB]

I would be very pleased Chris, to take you up on your kind offer regarding a search in the Society of Genealogists Library for both the Alumni listings and the Burkes Landed Gentry for the Rev'd William Benson.

I live on the Gold Coast Qld, and have searched for the Burkes in the Council Library with no luck.

Les

[cgpigott]

From "Alumni Dublinenses," Ed's BURTCHAEL & SADLIER, London, 1924, at p. 60, we find:

"BENSON, William, Pen. (Rev L. KERR) January 3, 1780, aged 17; s. of William, Mercator; b. Dublin; B.A. Vern 1784; M.A. (ad eund. Oxon) 1787. See Foster."

From "Alumni Oxon., 1715-1886" Ed Joseph FOSTER, Oxford, 1888, at p. 96, we find:

"BENSON, William [B.A. Trinity College Dublin], s.of William, of Dublin, arm.; St Mary Hall, incorp. 18 Jan 1785, aged 23; M.A. 1787."

From "Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernica," by Henry COTTON, Vol.1, at pp. 159 & 161, we find:

CHANCELLORS. Diocese of EMLY. - 1791. William BENSON, M.A., collated March 11th [to succeed John SEYMOUR, deceased]. In 1795 he resigned, and was made Praecentor.

PRAECENTORS, Diocese of EMLY. - 1795. William BENSON, M.A. of Oxford, Chancellor, collated August 14th. [He was succeeded by George MADDER, LL.D., who was collated 15 Amr 1814.]

Regards,

Chris PIGOTT.

[lesB]

Well done Chris. Your research is excellent and so very valuable.

So the Rev’d William Benson received his BA from Trinity College Dublin & a MA from Oxford. Very heady stuff indeed!

It would seem that Rev’d William was born about 1763 in Dublin, son of William, a merchant. Your research certainly ties the Rev’d William to his sister Jane, believed to have lived 1757 & 1826. Jane married Charles Agar, later to become the first Earl of Normanton.

Thank you Chris for your efforts and RootsChat for making it possible.

Les