Tomb Archbishop Edward White Benson - Canterbury Cathedral - Canterbury - Kent - UK - Death Mask Gravestones on Waymarking.com

Edward White Benson, (born July 14, 1829, Birmingham, Warwickshire, Eng.—died October 11, 1896, Hawarden, Cheshire), 97-th archbishop of Canterbury (1883–96), whose Lincoln Judgment (1890), a code of liturgical ritual, helped resolve the Church of England’s century-old dispute over proper forms of worship.

The following article describes the services at his funeral:

From The Portsmouth Daily Times of Portsmouth Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 17, 1896

Funeral Services: Over the Remains of Most Rev. Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury

London, Oct. 17 - The funeral services over the body of the Most. Rev. Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and primate of all England, who was stricken with apoplexy during the services in the Hawarden Church last Sunday morning and died almost immediately afterward, were held in the Cathedral at Canterbury Friday forenoon. The great edifice was crowded with people, among whom were the Duke of York and Prince Charles of Denmark, as the representatives of the Prince of Wales, the Duke Connaught, Duke of Cambridge, and a host of Ecclesiastical, political, and social dignitaries. There were several distinct services, the first one beginning at 8 o'clock in the morning. The coffin containing the body of the deceased archbishop was covered with a white and gold-embroidered pall and was placed in front of the altar surrounded by lighted tapers. Very Rev. F. William Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury, opened the series of services by celebrating the function of holy communion. The weather was extremely disagreeable, a heavy rainfall accompained by high winds prevailing, but this state of things had no effect in keeping people away from the cathedral. Everybody present wore deep mourning, and the primate's throne was heavily draped with black.

At 12 o'clock, the funeral procession was formed in the cloisters of the cathedral, the cleargy attached to the diocese leading, followed by the members of the House of Commons, members of the House of Lords, bishops and members of the convocation. Then came Most. Rev. William D. MacLagan, D.D., Archbishop of York and primate of England, Most. Rev. William C. Lord Plunkett, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, Very Rev. F. William Farrar, Dean of Canterbury, and Rev. Hughes Benson. Next came the coffin with the pall bearers, the Earl of Cranbrook, Lord Ashcomb, Lord MacNaighton, the Dean of Lincoln; Sir E.M. Thompson, and the chancellorof Truro.

Within the cathedral the family and relatives of the dead archbishop, the family of the Archbishop of York and other representatives of the private mourners occupied places in the rear of the choir. As the procession reached the nave, the choir sang Gounod's "Send Out Thy Light," and afterward a special anthem composed by Sir Herbert Stanley Oakley, composer to her majesty in Scotland and professor of music in the University of Edinburgh. The clergy who officiated at the internment comprised Canon A. J. Mason, of Canterbury; Rt. Rev. Randall T. Davidson, Bishop of Winchester; Rev. Hugh Benson, and the archbishops of Dublin and York.

The internment took place in the vault of the Canterbury Cathedral.

The tomb:

The ornate memorial, designed by the leading architect Thomas Graham Jackson, imitates the decorated style of the tomb of Archbishop Peckham (in the martyrdom). The effigy, by Thomas Brock, is in white Carrara marble on a slab of Irish black marble. The well-defined facial features are thought to be modelled on Benson's death mask, which is preserved as a plaster cast in the cathedral library. Burial within the cathedral required special permission - he lies under a thick bed of cement, concrete and charcoal. His image also appears in the Chapter House windows - the west window shows him presiding over the 3rd Lambeth Conference.

Name of Cemetery: Canterbury Cathedrale Condition of Death Mask: Very good Gravestone Inscription: Miserere mei Deus Per crucem et passionem tuam libera me Christe ("Have mercy on me O Christ our God, Through Thy Cross and Passion, deliver thou me").

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