Harry Bensley (?, 1876 or 1877 - May 21, 1956) was an English rake and adventurer, best remembered as the subject of an extraordinary wager between John Pierpoint Morgan and Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale. How much of his story is based on fact is unclear. 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... Gambling (or betting) is any behavior involving risking money or property (making a wager or placing a stake) on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event in which the outcome of that activity depends partially or totally upon chance or upon ones ability to do something. ... John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913), American financier and banker, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, a son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813–1890), who was a partner of George Peabody and the founder of the house of J. S. Morgan & Co. ... Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5nd Earl of Lonsdale (1857 - 1944), was an English nobleman. ...

Harry Bensley was from Thetford in Norfolk, England. By 1907 he was a businessman with investments in places like imperial Russia and reputedly received £5000 a year. Map sources for Thetford at grid reference TL8783 Thetford is a town in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England. ... Norfolk (pronounced NOR-fk) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK...

According to original tale, one evening in 1907 at the National Sporting Club in London, Morgan and Lonsdale were arguing whether a man could walk around the world without being identified. Bensley, a notorious "playboy" and womaniser with a substantial private income, overheard the conversation and offered to test the proposition on their behalf. The outcome of the exchange was that Lonsdale bet Pierpoint Morgan the then-extravagant sum of USD 100,000 that Bensley would complete a pedestrian circumnavigation. 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

According to Ken MacNaught [1], grandson of a Bensley's illegitimate son Jim Beasley (changed name), this is not entirely accurate. Bensley had gambled heavily with the two men, put up all his fortune in a game and lost. Now effectively destitute, he pleaded others to accept some way to forfeit. The two gentlemen came up with the unlikely wager.

Bensley had to satisfy 15 conditions, including:

• Bensley was never to be identified;
• He was to walk around the world but first through specific 169 British cities and towns in a specific order; to prove his visit he would have to collect a signature from a local prominent resident. After that he would begin a tour of 18 countries and would have to visit them, also in pre-specified order.
• Bensley was to finance himself, starting off with just GBP 1 and selling picture cards about himself;
• Only a change of underclothes was allowed as baggage;
• He was to complete the journey wearing an iron mask weighing 2 kg (4.5 lbs) from a suit of armour;
• He was to push a perambulator (baby buggy) the entire journey;
• Another man was to accompany him to see that he fulfilled the conditions in all times and
• On the journey he was to find a wife without her seeing his face (note that he was possibly married already).

Bensley set off on January 1, 1908 from the Trafalgar Square, London with postcards of himself with which he intended to finance his journey. He supposedly spent the next 6 and half years on the road. Various tales tell about his journey; that he was arrested in Bexley Heath, Kent, for selling postcards without a license and that judge only fined him when he explained the conditions of the bet. That he sold a postcard to Edward VII but refused to give him his autograph. He supposedly received 200 marriage offers but accepted none of them. An unnamed newspaper was told to have promised £1000 reward to someone who would reveal his identity. GBP may be: short for Game Boy Player the ISO currency code for the British Pound Sterling. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1908 (MCMVIII) is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Trafalgar Square (from the Arabic Taraf Al-Aghar meaning literally Side of Victory) is a square in central London that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... A sample of various postcards. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Edward VII (Albert Edward) (9 November 1841–6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of the Commonwealth Realms, and the Emperor of India. ...

There is some dispute about to what extent Bensley actually complied with the terms of the wager. There is no documentary evidence that Bensley travelled far outside the British Isles but the legend claimed that he got as far as China and Japan.

According to the original tales, on August 14, 1914, Bensley found himself in Genoa, Italy, claiming to have completed 30,000 miles of the journey and having only seven countries remaining on his itinerary. That month, World War I had begun and Bensley abandoned his journey, returning to fight for his country. One version of the tale claims that Morgan contacted him, called the bet off because of the war and gave him £4000 for consolation (note that Morgan was already dead at this time). Bensley supposedly gave the money to the charity. Other claims that Bensley himself decided to quit and fulfil his duty to enlist. August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Location within Italy Flag of Genoa Christopher Columbus monument in Piazza Aquaverde Genoa (Italian Genova, Genoese Zena, French Gênes, German Genua, Spanish Genova) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. ... A mile is a unit of distance (or, in physics terminology, length) currently defined as 5,280 feet, 1,760 yards, or 63,360 inches. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas. ...

Bensley served in the British army in the first year of the War, was severely wounded and eventually invalided out of the army in 1915. Bensley lost his fortune in the Bolshevik revolution when his investments in Russia became worthless and he was left destitute. 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. ...

After the war Bensley moved to live in Wivenhoe, Essex with his wife Kate (he might have been married to her as early as 1898). He worked in low-status jobs like cinema doorman, a YMCA warden and was twice elected local councillor for the Labour Party. According to one report, during the Second World War, Bensley was a bomb checker at an ammunition factory. Location within the British Isles Wivenhoe Park, John Constable, 1816. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... YMCAs in the United States and Canada use this logo. ... The Labour Party is the principal centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Harry Bensley died in a bed-sitting room in Brighton, England in May 21, 1956. Brighton on the southern Sussex coast is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in England. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• BBC article