{{Short description|Navy surveyor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person |name = Benjamin Gonson |birth_date = {{birth year|1525}} |death_date = {{dya|1577|1525}} |image = |caption = |birth_place = Parish of St Dunstan-in-the-East, London, England |death_place = London, England |burial_place = St Dunstan-in-the-East |nickname = |allegiance = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of England}} |service_years = 1540–1577 |rank = |branch = {{navy|England}} |commands = Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy<br />Treasurer of the Navy |unit = |battles = |awards = |relations = |other_work = }}
'''Benjamin Gonson''' (c. 1525–1577) was an English Naval Administrator, and the first Surveyor of the Royal Navy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ranft|first1=Bryan|title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198605270|page=32|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bzrya4r-2n8C&q=Admiral+Benjamin+Gonson+Naval+Administrator&pg=PA32|language=en}}</ref> He was a founding member of England's Navy Board during the Tudor period.
==Career== Benjamin Gonson began his career as a private shipwright. He began his government work when he was appointed to the new Council of the Marine established by Henry VIII on 24 April 1546 as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy.<ref name=Bennell>{{cite ODNB |last=Bennell |first=John |year=2004 |title=Gonson, William (d. 1544) |id=47400}}</ref> He held this post until 1549 when he was succeeded by Admiral William Wynter. On 8 April 1549 he was appointed Treasurer of Marine Causes<ref>{{cite book|last1=Knighton|first1=C. S.|last2=Loades|first2=David|title=Elizabethan Naval Administration|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317145035|page=516|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K50WDAAAQBAJ&q=Benjamin+Gonson&pg=PA516|language=en}}</ref> which he first held alone (until 18 November 1577), and then jointly with Admiral John Hawkins (until 26 November 1577).
==Personal== The son of Vice-Admiral William Gonson, he followed his father into government service. He married Ursula, daughter of Anthony Hussey (an Admiralty Court judge under Henry VIII) on 8 April 1546.<ref name=Parlt>{{cite web|title='Hussey, Anthony (1496/97-1560), of London', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), ''The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509-1558''|author=R.J.W. Swales|publisher=Institute of Historical Research|location=United Kingdom|year=1982|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/hussey-anthony-149697-1560|accessdate=4 November 2016|archive-date=7 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107150113/http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/hussey-anthony-149697-1560|url-status=dead}}</ref> He had fourteen children with Ursula all born between the years 1547–67;<ref name=Bennell /> he died in December 1577.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Childs|first1=David|title=Tudor Sea Power: The Foundation of Greatness|date=2009|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|isbn=9781473819924|page=264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwLSAwAAQBAJ&q=Benjamin+Gonson+died+in&pg=PA263|language=en}}</ref>
==See also== *Admiralty in the 16th century *Navy Board *Tudor Navy *William Gonson
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonson, Benjamin}} Category:1520s births Category:1577 deaths Category:16th-century Royal Navy personnel Category:People from London Category:People of the Tudor period Category:Burials at St Dunstan-in-the-East