Ralph Sillery Benson, was a son of the distinguished Dr Charles Benson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons. He received his early education at Rathmines School and afterwards Trinity College, graduating with an MA and LL.B. He took a test for the Indian Civil Service of the British raj (a term that refers to direct British rule over the Indian Subcontinent from 1858-1947).
The Great Famine
He was accepted into the service in 1873 and appointed to Madras (modern day Chennai). Within three years of this appointment a terrible famine occurred. ‘The Great Famine’ as it became known lasted from 1876-1878 and it is estimated that at least five million people perished. During this period Benson worked with famine relief at Cuddapah and was noted favorably for his efforts. Although Viceroy, Lord Lytton’s, laissez-faire approach to the catastrophe received much condemnation. Particularly his policy of minimal government intervention which was compared to what was employed in Orissa and here in Ireland. The failure of the British colonial regime effectively led to the creation of a Famine Commission in 1880. Historians who study this period, including Amartya Sen, Jayamohan, argue that it was a man-made famine and a direct outcome of British rule and Indian inhumanity.
The settlement of the Nilgiri districts
After this, Benson was the officer who carried through the settlement of the Nilgiri districts. The Nilgiri was a principal part of the imperial regime in India. Its plateau with its perfect climate served as a key location as a British resort for health and recreation. The population, originally indigenous tribes, was diluted by large settlements, as plantation labourers and those who worked directly for the British.
Resolution of 1882
Later, Benson was chosen to be secretary to two committees which prepared a scheme and drafted the Act for the application of Lord Ripon’s (Viceroy of India from 1880-1884) local self-government to Madras. Ripon and conceivably Benson too, felt that Indians must have more say in governing their own land. Ripon began delegating more power to local elected bodies in an effort to enact social transformation through improving the lives of Indians. However, this was only partially successful which convinced many Indian leaders that the British were not serious about handing over administrative power.
Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Fort St George
In the interim, Benson undertook various judicial roles, including Under Secretary to the Government and Secretary to the Board of Revenue and as a barrister at law to the Indian service. On the retirement of Judge Brandt in 1896 Benson was appointed by Queen Victoria as a judge of the High Court of Judicature at Fort St George in Madras (currently the seat of the Tamil Nadu Government).
This prestigious position was located in St George, the administrative, military, and commercial centre of the Madras Presidency. A historical location which contained St Mary’s church, the oldest Anglican church in Asia, and Wellesley House, once the residence of the Anglo-Irish former Governor General of India.
The Indian Famine
Between 1896–1897 another famine occurred and it is estimated that famine alongside cholera, and the plague killed around eight million Indians in the period, up until 1905. While there is little information about Benson’s activities, however, he was commended for turning his house into a centre of philanthropic and social reform, in which he received the full cooperation of his wife Fanny, the daughter of a former chaplain in India the Rev Gilbert Cooper, who was decorated with The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal which was bestowed on “any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex … who shall have distinguished himself (or herself) by important and useful service in the advancement of the public interest in India.”
Knighthood, return to Dublin and death
In 1906 the King Edward VII conferred a knighthood on Benson, then acting Vice Chancellor of Madras University. In 1913 he retired as a puisne judge and civil servant and returned to Dublin. He became an officer of the Royal Dublin Societies’s Committee of Industry, Art and General Purposes as well as taking a keen interest in the parish of St Stephen, playing a prominent role in the movement for the erection of a memorial to the young men of the parish who had served in WW1. In October of 1920, at the age of 69, he died at his residence at Roebook Grove. He is buried at Mount Jerome and his inscription reads “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”
