Benjamin Parsons Symons
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Benjamin Parsons Symons (28 January 1785 – 12 April 1878) was an academic administrator at the University of Oxford in England. File:Benjamin Parsons Symons (1785–1878).jpg
Life
Benjamin Symons was born in Cheddar, Somerset, the son of John Symons of Cheddar.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Symons, Benjamin Parsons|volume=55|last=Carlyle|first=Edward Irving}} He was educated at Sherborne School and matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, on 2 February 1802, where he was admitted as a scholar on 25 October 1803.{{cite web|url=http://oldshirburnian.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The-Sherborne-Register-Fourth-Edition-1550-1950-word-resized.pdf|title=The Sherborne Register 1550-1950|publisher=Old Shirbirnian Society|accessdate=16 February 2019}} He graduated with a BA degree on 14 October 1805 and received an MA degree on 7 July 1810.
Symons was elected a Probationer Fellow at Wadham College on 30 June 1811 and was admitted as a Fellow on 2 July 1812. He graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity on 22 April 1819. He was bursar of the College from 1814 to 1823, after which he became sub-warden. On 23 January 1831 he obtained the degree of Doctor of Divinity and on 16 June of that year he was elected Warden of the College.{{cite web | url=http://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/about-wadham/college-history/wardens-of-wadham.html | title=Wardens of Wadham | publisher=Wadham College, Oxford, UK | accessdate=July 13, 2011 | archive-date=19 April 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419211226/http://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/about-wadham/college-history/wardens-of-wadham.html | url-status=dead }} He was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1844 to 1848.{{cite web | url=http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/vc/position/previousvice-chancellors/ | title=Previous Vice-Chancellors | publisher=University of Oxford, UK | accessdate=July 13, 2011}} He resigned the wardenship on 18 October 1871, but continued to reside in Oxford until his death in 1878.
Symons did not follow the high-church Anglican Oxford Movement prevalent at Oxford, and was regarded as the leader of the evangelical wing in later life. He changed the time of dinner at Wadham to inconvenience any students wishing to attend Newman's sermons.{{Cite book |last=Pattison |first=Mark |title=Memoirs of an Oxford Don |date=1989 |publisher=Cassell |isbn=0304322199 |location=London |pages=185 (footnote 17)}}
He was buried in the ante-chapel at Wadham College and bequeathed £1,000 to the College to establish an exhibition. His portrait was hung in the College hall.
References
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Further reading
- {{cite ODNB|last=Davies |first=C.S.L. |id=26895 |title=Symons, Benjamin Parsons (1785–1878)}}
- Gardiner's Registers of Wadham, ii. 224.
- {{alox2|title=Symons, Benjamin Parsons}}
- Ward's Men of the Reign, p. 867.
- The Times, 13 April 1878.
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{{succession box
| title=Warden of Wadham College, Oxford
| years=1831–1871
| before=William Tournay
| after=John Griffiths
}}
{{succession box
| title=Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University
| years=1844–1848
| before=Philip Wynter
| after=Frederick Charles Plumptre
}}
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Category:People from Sedgemoor (district)
Category:People educated at Sherborne School
Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
Category:Fellows of Wadham College, Oxford