Identity area
Reference code
SJCR/SJAC/1/2/Benians
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 1915-1933 (Creation)
Level of description
Sub-sub-series
Extent and medium
29 files; 1 item. Paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Benians was born in Goudhurst, Kent in 1880. His father was the headmaster of Bethany School in Goudhurst, and it was here that Benians received his schooling. He was admitted to St John's in 1899 and achieved his BA in 1902. He became Lightfoot Scholar in 1903, Allen Scholar in 1903, and achieved his MA as well as being the Adam Smith Prizeman in 1906. He also became a Fellow in 1906, and then in 1911 he was elected to the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship. For the period 1913-19, Benians was a Local Adviser to Indian Students. He was appointed Lecturer in History in 1910, became a Tutor in 1918, and Senior Tutor in 1927. In the same year he was made University Lecturer in History, specialising in the history of the British colonies and dependencies, and the United States of America. He was Master of St John's from 1933 until his death in 1952, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University 1939-41. In 1939 he was awarded an honorary LittD from Trinity College Dublin, before then also becoming an Honorary Fellow in 1947.
Benians married Sylvia Mary Dodd, daughter of J. Thoedore Dodd, at St Giles', Oxford in 1918, and together they had one son and two daughters. He died on 13 February 1952.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Includes: tutorial, mainly admissions, papers of Ernest A. Benians; also includes correspondence and notices relating to students and their war service; miscellaneous tutorial correspondence.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The Admissions Papers are arranged alphabetically and the Correspondence is arranged by into 2 subject files (Board of Education & Tutorial Office Papers) and then chronologically within these files.