Arthur Benson


Sir Arthur Edward Trevor Benson GCMG was a British colonial administrator and governor.

Early life

Benson was born in Johannesburg on 21 December 1907 the son of an Anglican clergyman. Educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School and Exeter College, Oxford he joined the colonial service in 1931.

Colonial service

Benson was sent to Northern Rhodesia as a cadet later moving on to the Secretariat in Lusaka. During the Second World War he returned to London and was attached to the Cabinet Office. After the war he returned to Northern Rhodesia and the Luwingu outstation. In 1948 he became Chief Secretary of the Central African Council and in 1951 he was promoted to Chief Secretary of Nigeria. In 1954 he was appointed Governor of Northern Rhodesia until he retired in 1959.

Retirement

He became a Justice of the Peace in Devon from 1962 to 1966 and he was also elected an Honorary Fellow of Exeter College.

Family life

Benson had married Daphne and they had two daughters, he died in 1987.