The son of William Bennett, a Grimsby timber trader, ship owner and chemist, he was educated at Wesley College, Sheffield. A Gladstonian Liberal, he served on Grimsby Town Council and was Liberal MP for Gainsborough from 1885 to 1886 and 1892 to 1895. Soon after his marriage to Maria Pye, they moved to Louth, where he served both as a trustee and as Sunday School superintendent. His generosity to WM causes included a gift of £4,000 to free the Louth Circuit from debt and the gift of the site of Victoria WM chapel, Grimsby. He died on 11 January 1908.
A son, J(ohn) Gordon Bennett (1885-1944; e.m. 1907), missionary in India, was born in Louth and educated at The Leys School. He was trained at Wesley House, Cambridge and after two years as chaplain at his old school served from 1909 to 1936 in Hyderabad, India. Returning to Cambridge, he was Secretary for Public Schools and Colleges for the Bible Society. He died at Warwick on 31 January 1944.