Edward Frederick Benson (July 24, 1867 - February 29, 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist and short story writer, known professionally as E.F. Benson. His friends called him Fred.

E.F. Benson was born at Wellington College in Berkshire, the fifth child of the headmaster, Edward White Benson (later Archbishop of Canterbury), and Mary Sidgwick Benson. He was a brother of A C Benson, who wrote the words to Land of Hope and Glory.

E.F. Benson is principally known for his Mapp and Lucia series, consisting of six novels about Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas and Elizabeth Mapp. These are: Queen Lucia, Lucia in London, Miss Mapp, Mapp and Lucia, Lucia's Progress (published as The Worshipful Lucia in the US) and Trouble for Lucia. The last three books were serialized by commercial television in the 1980s under the series title "Mapp and Lucia." The principal setting of four of the books is a town called Tilling, which is recognizably based on Rye, East Sussex, where Benson lived for many years and served as Mayor. He also lived at 25 Brompton Square, London, where much of the action of Lucia in London takes place.

Benson was also known as a writer of ghost stories.

External links

• E.F. Benson Website (http://www.efbenson.co.uk/)
• Brief Benson biography (http://www.rye-tourism.co.uk/efbenson/index.htm)
• Brompton Square history (http://www.opensquares.org/pages/square/9.html)
• Brompton Square map (http://www.londontown.com/LondonStreets/brompton_square_4c2.html)
• Rye website (http://www.rye-tourism.co.uk/)