Bennet, John

Bennet, John an early English Wesleyan preacher, was a native of Derbyshire. He was converted under David Taylor, and commenced his itinerant labors in 1747. He labored in Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, where he was impressed; his tact and bearing, however, soon gaining his release. On Dec. 26, 1752, he separated from the connection, taking a considerable part of the society with him, and formed an independent congregation at Bolton- le-Moors, Lancashire.

He died May 24, 1759, according to some, of leprosy. Bennet was a man of superior talents and education, attended the first conference, introduced the Scotts into Derbyshire (Smith, 1, 220), was one of the companions of Wesley (id. 1, 239), and originated quarterly meetings (id. 1, 250, 251). He married Grace Murray, to whom John Wesley made overtures of marriage. She lived in Christian retirement, near Chapel-en-le-Frith, and maintained a class-meeting in her house for many years, being partial to Methodist usages to the last. She died in 1803, aged eighty-nine. See Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon, i, 45; Atmore, Meth. Memorial s.v.; Smith, Hist. of the Wesl. Methodists, 1 (see index, vol. 3); Stevens, Hist. of Methodism, 1, 136, 224, 270, 352.