As soon as he had taken his Bachelor of Arts degree he was invited by the principal of Magdalen Hall to become vice-principal of that college, and took up the appointment on 6 March 1730 (Gregorian), still aged only 22.
)[5] It was at this time, on 22 June 1754, that Edward Bentham married Elizabeth Bates (died 1790) from Alton in the nearby county of Hampshire.
[2][7] Edward Bentham's appointment to the Oxford regius professorship of divinity took place in May[5] or June[2] 1763, following the death of the previous incumbent, John Fanshawe.
Encouraged by Archbishop Secker, in 1764 he instigated a yearly course of thrice weekly lectures for those intending to seek ordination into the English priesthood.
[2][8] Surviving notes by students indicate a real-world practical approach, coupled with an adherence to the lecturer's own moderate high church biblical orthodoxy.
[5] He was incapacitated by his final illness from 23 July 1776, but battled on with his studies "like a faithful soldier, in the exercise of his religion", dying at the start of the next month.
[2] After his death there were many, including his brother James, who went into print with the opinion that he should have advanced further in his career than he did, but there are signs elsewhere that he lacked some of the ambition and political skill necessary for such advancement,[2][5] "a very honest, virtuous, good man; a good husband and father, and an excellent brother, but ...[a] poor creature ... in conversation, manner, and behaviour...a plodding, industrious man, bred under his cousin John Burton of Eton," according to the antiquary William Cole who evidently knew him.