BURIED TOGETHER
Partner Mary Benson, buried together
Queer Places:
Treemans, Treemans Rd, Haywards Heath RH17, Regno Unito
Ludwell, Waterbury Hill, Haywards Heath RH17, Regno Unito
St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Addington Village Rd, Croydon CR0 5AS, Regno Unito
Lucy Sydney Murray Tait (11 February 1856 - 5 December 1938) was involved with Mary Benson (1841–1918), English hostess of the Victorian era and wife of Revd. Edward Benson, who during their marriage became Archbishop of Canterbury. Tait was the daughter of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Most Rev & Rt Hon Archibald Tait and Catharine Tait.
The sexual aspect of Minnie Benson's
relationship with Lucy Tait caused her
considerable feelings of guilt and, in 1878, she wrote in her diary: Once
more and with shame O Lord, grant that all carnal affections may die in
me, and that all things belonging to the spirit may love and grow in me.
Lord, look down on Lucy and me, and bring to pass the union we have both
so blindly, each in our own region of mistake, continually desidered.
Benson composed the record of her love for Lucy Tait as if in the gloom of
a deserted confessional, but the fact that the diary survived suggests
that she had a wider audience in mind.
Lucy Tait was born in Carlisle, Cumbria. She never married, but had a 30-year relationship with Benson, with whom she shared her life until Minnie's death in 1918. Afterwards, Lucy lived with her sister Edith, widow of Randall Davidson.[1]
She died in Winchelsea, East Sussex.
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