Francis Bennett Evans Goldney
| Francis Bennett Evans Goldney | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Born | 1862 | ||||||
| Died | 1918 | ||||||
| Residence | Abbot's Barton, Canterbury | ||||||
| Occupation |
political antiquarian | ||||||
| |||||||
Contents
Notes
Office Notes
House Notes
Proposed by Henry Balfour; seconded by T.A. Joyce 1903.10.27
see his father sebastian evans
1909.02.09. Members three years in arrears. It was resolved that Messrs Pope Hennessy, H.O. Forbes, G.F. Lawrence, Swinhoe and Seymour Sewell should be warned. That Messrs Bennett Goldney and Gordon should be put into the hands of the LAPT
1912.06.11 [it was resolved] that Dr J.G. Garson, Messrs John Don, F. Bennett Goldney MP and Mr F.W. Knocker should have proceedings taken against them if their arrears are not paid immediately on request therefor
1912.10.29 ... that proceedings be taken against Mr F. Bennett Goldney, MP, Mr F.W. Knocker, Revd. Dr O.E. Oesterley and Dr J.G. Garson
1914.02.24 1914.02.24 The Treasurer made his statement as to arrears of subscriptions and it was resolved that Dr J.G. Garson be left alone, that the Treasurer should write to the Revd. Hastings, Mr Blundell, Prof. T.H. Bryce, Mr Newton H. Harding, Mr Houghton, Mr Nicholls, Mrs Ben Yusuf, Mr Donald Sundar and Mr F.B. Goldney MP and in the case of the last mentioned gentleman, if no response be made, that he be placed in the hands of the LAPT.
1914.05.12 The Treasurer then made his statement as to Fellows in arrears with their subscriptions. It was resolved that no steps be taken with regard to Mr Garson, that a strongly worded letter be sent to Miss Ben Yusuf, H.W. Blundell, F.B. Goldney MP ...
1915.09.28 The Treasurer stated the difficulty of obtaining a balance of £2 odd from Mr Bennett Goldney and asked if he might write to him threatening execution if he did not send the money to the solicitors acting for the LAPT, and asking that in future he should pay his subscription when it was due or resign his Fellowship.
1915.10.26 The Treasurer stated he had had no reply from Mr Bennett Goldney and on Dr Seligman’s motion it was resolved to send him a copy of the letter by registered post.
1915.11.30 The Treasurer stated that as he had received no reply from Mr Bennett Goldney he had instructed the Solicitors to proceed in the matter.
death noted in the report of the council for 1918
1919.03.18 The Treasurer stated that he had a communication from the solicitors in charge of Major Bennett Goldney’s affairs stating that the estate was in Chancery, & a note had been made of the Institute’s claim
Notes From Elsewhere
Frank Bennett Goldney was MP for the city from 1910 to 1918 and mayor from 1906 to 1911. He was also curator of the newly formed Beaney Museum, and was instrumental in getting Queen Victoria to confer a royal status for the new institution.
He was a confirmed bachelor and lived with his mother in Abbot's Barton, now a modern hotel on the Dover Road. He died in 1918 in a road accident in France whilst serving as an assistant military attaché to the British Embassy in Paris.
Since then serious doubt about his integrity has come to light. It seems Frank merged his personal life with his roles as MP, mayor and museum curator without clear boundaries, and was careless with who exactly owned what.
His estate for probate purposes included not just the 2,000 books from his personal library but also city charters that clearly belonged to the city archives, which were returned only after a court case that cost the city council £500 in legal fees (more than £40,000 in today's money).
It also seems he may have been implicated in the theft of Ireland's crown jewels from Dublin Castle in 1907.
In February that year Frank had been appointed to the office of Athlone Pursuivant, an obscure post in the Irish Office of Arms. The robber has never been found, nor the jewels returned. Not long after the theft, one missing relic from the Irish collection turned up in the Beaney Museum – Frank explained it had simply been temporarily borrowed. On Frank's death it turned up in his personal effects.
Given Frank's muddled personal affairs and dubious business ethics, we can only guess at the true facts. Did he own the jade axe? Was it really from a Canterbury source? I'm afraid we'll never know. But it's still a stunning piece with a fascinating story.
Major Francis Bennett-Goldney FSA MP (1865 – 27 July 1918) was an antiquary, Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury and former Mayor of Canterbury, who died during World War I.[1]
He was born Francis Evans, the son of Sebastian Evans,[2] in Moseley, near Birmingham. He later assumed his mother's family name of Bennett-Goldney.[1]
Bennett-Goldney was appointed as Athlone Pursuivant of the Order of St Patrick in February 1907, and has been mentioned as a possible suspect in the theft of the insignia of the Order, known as the Irish Crown Jewels, in July 1907.[3]
From at least 1899 to 1913, Bennett-Goldney was the honorary curator of Royal Museum and Art Gallery in Canterbury. He served as Mayor of Canterbury, 1906 – 11. He was elected as the Independent Unionist Member of Parliament for Canterbury at the general election of December 1910; he had stood at the January 1910 general election, narrowly failing to defeat the Conservative MP. In the years leading up to the war, he frequently spoke of the threat posed by Germany, and never wavered from his opinions despite criticism. He was also very active in the service of aiding refugees in the early days of the war.[1] His family home, Abbot's Barton in Canterbury, was used as a VAD hospital.
He joined the British Embassy in Paris in October 1917 as honorary assistant military attaché. He was promoted as a temporary major on the General List on 13 May 1918.[4] He died 27 July 1918 in an American hospital in Brest from injuries sustained in a car accident. He was buried at St Germain-en-Laye, near Paris.[5]
Bennett-Goldney is commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs that died during World War I to be named on that memorial.[6][7] At the time of his death, he was the 17th member of the House of Commons to have died serving in the war.[1] Bennett-Goldney is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.[8] A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which includes a short biographical account of the life and death of Bennett-Goldney
