Author: Eustace H. Miles

E. F. Benson (1867–1940) was a prolific English writer, best known for his Mapp and Lucia novels, which have been adapted multiple times for television and radio. Born in Wellington College, Berkshire, he was one of the six children of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson. His siblings also left a literary mark, notably Arthur Christopher Benson, author of the words to “Land of Hope and Glory, ” and Robert Hugh Benson, a priest and novelist. E. F. Benson studied at Marlborough and King”s College, Cambridge. After university, he worked at the British School of Archaeology in Athens and the Egyptian Exploration Fund in Cairo, experiences that informed some of his supernatural and historical works. Benson was a versatile writer, producing a wide range of works, including biographies, short stories, and plays. His literary style is characterized by wit, satire, and a keen observation of social manners and class. While “The Cricket of Abel, Hirst, and Shrewsbury” is attributed to his name, it is not commonly recognized as one of his major works. His novel “Dodo” (1893) marked his successful foray into the social satire for which he became celebrated. Among his seventy novels, his ghost stories, such as those collected in “The Room in the Tower and Other Stories” (1912), remain highly regarded for their eerie atmosphere and chilling narratives. Benson never married and his personal life remained private. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Cambridge and served as the mayor of Rye, Sussex, from 1934 to 1937. Today, Benson”s lasting legacy is the delightful prose and enduring appeal of his social satires and ghost stories.