William Arthur Smith Benson
Born 17 October 1854
Died 5 July 1924
Active: 1884 - 1911
Country of birth: England
Country of death: Wales
Designer, art metal worker
Born at 6 Sussex Square, Paddington, Middlesex. Benson was educated at Winchester and Oxford and then articled to the architect Basil Champneys. In 1880 he established a workshop at North End Road, Fulham specialising in art metalwork with the encouragement of William Morris. Two year later Benson established a foundry at Chiswick, a showroom in Kensington and a new purpose-built factory, Eyot works, at St Peter's Square, Hammersmith. The firm was now equipped to mass produce domestic items from kettles to firescreens.
The firm was highly successful and many of Benson's designs were patented. In 1887 he opened a showroom at 82 and 83 New Bond Street. Benson's wares were sold from there and also from the showroom of Morris & Co. In 1901 the business was converted into a limited liability company named W. A. S. Benson & Co. Ltd, and was sold upon Benson's retirement in 1920.
Benson also designed furniture for J. S. Henry & Co and grates etc. for the Coalbrookdale and Falkirk foundries. He became managing director of Morris and Co. after Morris's death in 1896. Benson worked for the company (then titled William Morris & Co. Decorators Ltd.) until his retirement in 1920. He died at Castle Cottage, in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire.
Wealth at death: £17,385 15s. 4d.
Probate date: 20 October 1924
Works
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Designed Fire Screen
Designed One Set of Fire-Irons
Designed Pair of Fire Dogs
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Involved in The possibilities of cast iron (Art Workers Guild), 1893
Wrote paper which was communicated at event.
Speaker at The Use and Abuse of Mechanical Aids to Production (Art Workers Guild), 1895
Speaker at The Design and Adornment of Bridges (Art Workers Guild), 1895
Speaker at The Ornamental Use of Cast-Iron (Art Workers Guild), 1914
Speaker at Bridges (Art Workers Guild), 1916
Institutional and Business Connections
Founder of W.A.S. Benson & Co.
1880 - 1920
Benson owned and managed the company for forty years
Member of Art Workers Guild
1884 - 1924
Committee member 1884-1886. Held honorary role (unspecified) from 1911.
Personal and Professional Connections
Collaborated with John Lovegrove
Trainer to Richard Llewellyn Benson Rathbone
1885 (Circa)
Sources
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1885-1900
1893, p5; 1895, p.6.
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1913-1933
1914, p.10.
Catalogue of the Second Exhibition of Arts and Crafts, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1895
1895
Cat. Nos. 196, 197, 198, p. 82
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
John Culme, ‘Benson, William Arthur Smith (1854–1924)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 ;online edn, Oct 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37182, accessed 10 July 2010]
The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, vol. 1, Aalto to Kyoto pottery
2006 (Circa)
p. 99
Citing this record
'William Arthur Smith Benson', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1214229691, accessed 03 Oct 2023]
