Bennett, John

Bennett, John an English Congregational minister, was born at Wellington, Somersetshire; March 12, 1803. His father was a soldier, a man of vigorous mind, and a "Unitariani;" his mother was a pious "Evangelical." To the latter he attributed his early conversion to God. Although his early schooling was very limited, by diligent and prayerful self-culture he became an intelligent, earnest, and successful village preacher. His earliest formal connection with ministerial life was as a home missionary — sometimes walking more than thirty miles on Sunday. Subsequently he was pastor at Braunton a short time, and twenty-five years at Castle Hill, Northampton, when he resigned his charge, and, after living a few years at Slough, removed to Dalston, where he died, April 10, 1870. He was a laborious student; this, with his large-heartedness and his fidelity, made him an able minister of the New Testament. See (Lond.) Cong. Year-book, 1871, p. 304.