Mrs Ames

The son of E.W. Benson, an archbishop of Canterbury (1883-96), the young E.F. Benson was educated at Marlborough School and at King's College, Cambridge. After graduation he worked from 1892 to 1895 in Athens for the British School of Archaeology and later in Egypt for the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. In 1893 he published Dodo, a novel that attracted wide attention. It was followed by a number of other successful novels including his hugely popular Mapp and Lucia