Harry Bensley

Harry Bensley

Harry Bensley (?, 1876 or 1877 - May 21 1956) was an English rake and adventurer, best remembered as the subject of an extraordinary wager between John Pierpont Morgan and Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale. How much of his story is based on fact is unclear.

Harry Bensley was from Thetford in Norfolk, England. By 1907 he was a businessman with investments in places like imperial Russia and reputedly received £5000 a year.

According to original tale, one evening in 1907 at the National Sporting Club in London, Morgan and Lonsdale were arguing whether a man could walk around the world without being identified. Bensley, a notorious "playboy" and womaniser with a substantial private income, overheard the conversation and offered to test the proposition on their behalf. The outcome of the exchange was that Lonsdale bet Pierpoint Morgan the then-extravagant sum of USD 100,000 that Bensley would complete a pedestrian circumnavigation.

According to Ken McNaught [http://mcnaught.orpheusweb.co.uk/HarryB/index.html] , grandson of a Bensley's illegitimate son Jim Beasley (changed name), this is not entirely accurate. Bensley had gambled heavily with the two men, put up all his fortune in a game and lost. Now effectively destitute, he pleaded others to accept some way to forfeit. The two gentlemen came up with the unlikely wager.

Bensley had to satisfy 15 conditions, including:
* Bensley was never to be identified;
* He was to walk around the world but first through specific 169 British cities and towns in a specific order; to prove his visit he would have to collect a signature from a local prominent resident. After that he would begin a tour of 18 countries and would have to visit them, also in pre-specified order.
*Bensley was to finance himself, starting off with just GBP 1 and selling picture cards about himself;
*Only a change of underclothes was allowed as baggage;
*He was to complete the journey wearing an iron mask weighing 2 kg (4.5 lb) from a suit of armour;
*He was to push a perambulator (baby carriage) the entire journey;
*Another man was to accompany him to see that he fulfilled the conditions in all times and
*On the journey he was to find a wife without her seeing his face (note that he was possibly married already).

Bensley set off on January 1 1908 from the Trafalgar Square, London with postcards of himself with which he intended to finance his journey. He supposedly spent the next 6 and half years on the road. Various tales tell about his journey; that he was arrested in Bexleyheath, Kent, for selling postcards without a license and that judge only fined him when he explained the conditions of the bet. That he sold a postcard to Edward VII and that Edward asked for Bensley's autograph, which Bensley refused as signing his name would have revealed his identity. (Another account of this encounter has Edward refusing to sign "his" autograph for Bensley.)

He supposedly received 200 marriage offers but accepted none of them. An unnamed newspaper was told to have promised £1000 reward to someone who would reveal his identity.

There is some dispute about to what extent Bensley actually complied with the terms of the wager. There is no documentary evidence that Bensley travelled far outside the British Isles but the legend claimed that he got as far as China and Japan.

According to the original tales, on August 14 1914, Bensley found himself in Genoa, Italy, claiming to have completed 30,000 miles of the journey and having only seven countries remaining on his itinerary. That month, World War I had begun and Bensley abandoned his journey, returning to fight for his country. One version of the tale claims that Morgan contacted him, called the bet off because of the war and gave him £4000 for consolation (note that Morgan was already dead at this time). Bensley supposedly gave the money to the charity. Other claims that Bensley himself decided to quit and fulfil his duty to enlist.

Bensley served in the British army in the first year of the War, was severely wounded and eventually invalided out of the army in 1915. Bensley lost his fortune in the Bolshevik revolution when his investments in Russia became worthless and he was left destitute.

After the war Bensley moved to live in Wivenhoe, Essex with his wife Kate (he might have been married to her as early as 1898). He worked in low-status jobs like cinema doorman, a YMCA warden and was twice elected local councillor for the Labour Party. According to one report, during the Second World War, Bensley was a bomb checker at an ammunition factory.

Harry Bensley died in a bed-sitting room in Brighton, England in May 21 1956.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_20071218.shtml BBC article]
* [http://mcnaught.orpheusweb.co.uk/HarryB/index.html Ken McNaught (Bensley's great-grandson's) research compendium site]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bensley — may refer to:*Harry Bensley, an English man who attempted to walk around the world *Peter Bensley, an Australian actor *Bensley, Virginia …   Wikipedia

  • Wivenhoe — This article is about the town in England. For other uses, see Wivenhoe (disambiguation). Coordinates: 51°51′30″N 0°57′55″E / 51.8582°N 0.9653°E / …   Wikipedia

  • May 21 — << May 2011 >> Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 …   Wikipedia

  • Around the World in Eighty Days (book) — infobox Book | name = Around the World in Eighty Days title orig = Le tour du monde en quatre vingts jours translator = George Makepeace Towle [quote|Mercier is erroneously credited in some bibliographies with a translation of Around the World in …   Wikipedia

  • 1908 in the United Kingdom — Events from the year 1908 in the United Kingdom.Incumbents*Monarch Edward VII of the United Kingdom *Prime Minister Henry Campbell Bannerman, Liberal (until 3 April), H. H. Asquith, LiberalEvents* 1 January ** Nimrod Expedition: Ernest Shackleton …   Wikipedia

  • List of Neighbours characters (2009) — The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the Australian soap opera Neighbours in 2009, by order of first appearance. They were all introduced by the show s executive producer Susan Bower. The 25th season of Neighbours began… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste de zoologistes — Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l attention du lecteur sur son… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste De Zoologistes —  Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l attention du lecteur sur …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste de zoologiste — Liste de zoologistes  Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste des zoologistes par leur abréviation d'auteur — Liste de zoologistes  Attention, il n est pas d usage en zoologie d utiliser d abréviation pour les noms des auteurs (contrairement aux usages de la botanique, voir ici). Cette liste ne constitue pas une liste officielle. Nous attirons l… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”