Born in Hampshire in 1864, Godfrey Rathbone Benson was educated at Winchester and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with a First in literae humaniores and later lectured in philosophy. He was called to the bar in 1898. Alongside his academic pursuits, Benson was active in Liberal politics, serving as a Member of Parliament for Woodstock from 1892 to 1895 and later as the Mayor of Lichfield. In 1911, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Charnwood.
As an author, Lord Charnwood achieved significant acclaim for his biographical works, most notably his 1916 biography Abraham Lincoln and his 1923 study Theodore Roosevelt. His literary output was diverse, encompassing a well-received detective novel, Tracks in the Snow (1906), as well as theological scholarship. In According To Saint John, he analyzed trends in early modern Biblical criticism and presented his own theological viewpoints.
Beyond his writing and political career, Charnwood was a dedicated philanthropist. He served as the first President of the National Institute for the Deaf from 1924 to 1935. In his later years, he remained active in public debate, notably speaking in the British parliament in 1934 to draw attention to the artificial nature of the Holodomor famine in Ukraine. He died in London in 1945 at the age of 80.
