Gerald Benney was born in 1930 at Hull, Yorkshire and spent most of his early life in Brighton. After training at Brighton Art College under Dunstan Pruden and then at the Royal College of Art under Professor Robert Goodden he opened his first workshop at Whitfield Place in London. In 1963 he moved to Beenham House in Reading, which was his home and workshop before moving to Wiltshire in 1999.

In 1974 he was granted a Royal Warrant by HM The Queen as goldsmith and silversmith.Further Royal Warrants followed in 1975 from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HM The Queen Mother and in 1980 from HRH The Prince of Wales. His commissions have been from a wide range of patrons - private, ecclesiastical and commercial. He has made pieces for presentation by HM Government, for Oxford and Cambridge Colleges, churches including Coventry, St Paul's and Lichfield Cathedrals. Gerald Benney's work can be seen in many collections such as HM The Queen, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Crafts Council and the Goldsmiths' Company.

Gerald Benney is a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths' Company and Royal Designer to Industry. He also holds many consultancies and appointments both in the United Kingdom and abroad and was Royal Professor to the Royal College of Art. In 1981 he was appointed Chairman of the Government of India Hallmarking Survey and is export adviser and product designer to Selangor Pewter, Kuala Lumpur. He is a Freeman of the City of London and of the Borough of Reading and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art. In 1993, together with his son Simon, he opened a shop in London. He is also adviser to The Silver Trust.

He was awarded a CBE in 1995.