Henry Benyon

Who was Henry Benyon?

Sir Henry Arthur Benyon, 1st Baronet JP was the immediate post-War Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire.

Born Henry Arthur Fellowes, the son of James Herbert Fellowes of Kingston Maurward House near Dorchester, Dorset. His father changed his name to Benyon after inheriting the Englefield House estate in Berkshire from his uncle in 1897. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Benyon lived at Ufton Court during his father's lifetime. He was a captain in the Berkshire Yeomanry during World War I, serving in Egypt. At home, he served as High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1925 and was the Lord Lieutenant from 28 March 1945 until his death in 1959. He was also a Berkshire County Councillor. He had inherited his father's estates – as well as the patronage of St Mark's Church, Englefield and St Peter's Church, De Beauvoir Town, Hackney – in 1935 and was raised to the baronetcy on 8 July 1958. He married Violet Eveline, daughter of Sir Cuthbert Edgar Peek, but left no heirs-male and Englefield passed to his second cousin-once-removed, William Richard Shelley. He enjoyed hunting and shooting.