Publisher's Synopsis
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, OM, PC, FRS (24 December 1838 - 23 September 1923) was a British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor. Initially a journalist, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1883. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1886 and between 1892 and 1895, Secretary of State for India between 1905 and 1910 and again in 1911 and Lord President of the Council between 1910 and 1914. Morley was a distinguished political commentator, and biographer of his hero, William Gladstone. Morley is best known for his writings and for his "reputation as the last of the great nineteenth-century Liberals".He opposed imperialism and the Boer War. His opposition to British entry into the First World War as an ally of Russia led him to leave government in August 1914................ Arthur Christopher Benson (24 April 1862 - 17 June 1925) was an English essayist, poet, author and academic and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He is noted for writing the words of the song "Land of Hope and Glory". Early life and family: Benson was born on 24 April 1862 at Wellington College, Berkshire, the son of Edward White Benson (1829-1896), first headmaster of the college. He was one of six children of Edward White Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1882-96) and his wife Mary Sidgwick Benson, sister of the philosopher Henry Sidgwick. Benson was born into a literary family; his brothers included Edward Frederic Benson, best remembered for his Mapp and Lucia novels, and Robert Hugh Benson, a priest of the Church of England before converting to Roman Catholicism, who wrote many popular novels. Their sister, Margaret Benson, was an artist, author, and amateur Egyptologist. The Benson family was exceptionally accomplished, but their history was somewhat tragic; a son and daughter died young; and another daughter, as well as Arthur himself, suffered from a mental condition that was possibly bipolar disorder or manic-depressive psychosis, which they had inherited from their father. None of the children married.Despite his illness, Arthur was a distinguished academic and a prolific author. From the ages of 10 to 21, he lived in cathedral closes, first at Lincoln where his father was Chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, and then at Truro where his father was the first Bishop of Truro. He retained a love of church music and ceremony. During 1874 he won a scholarship to Eton from Temple Grove School, a preparatory school in East Sheen. He became a student of King's College, Cambridge during 1881, where he was a scholar and scored first for the Classical tripos during 1884. Career: From 1885 to 1903 he taught at Eton, returning to Cambridge in 1904 as a Fellow of Magdalene College to lecture in English Literature. He became president of the college in 1912 and Master of Magdalene in December 1915, a post he held until his death in 1925. From 1906, he was a governor of Gresham's School. The modern development of Magdalene was shaped by Benson. He was a generous benefactor to the college with a significant impact on the modern appearance of the college grounds; at least twenty inscriptions around the college refer to him. In 1930, Benson Court was constructed and named after him.........................
