John Whitchurch Bennett (28 July 1790 – 10 June 1853) was a British army officer, official and printer, known as a naturalist.

Life

Bennett served in the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

from 1806 to 1815. He transferred to the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1815, and in 1816 was posted to

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He served there to 1827. His rank in 1815 was 2nd lieutenant; he was placed on half-pay in 1819. With a civil service appointment in Ceylon, he served in junior posts, and then was appointed magistrate of the Mahagampattu district, at

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Souther ...

and

Hambantota Hambantota ( si, හම්බන්තොට, ta, அம்பாந்தோட்டை) is the main town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri LankaThe prominent Malays (මැලේ) most part of the population is to be partly des ...

on the south coast of the island, in 1826.J. W. Toussaint, ''Literature and the Ceylon Civil Service'' (1931) (PDF)
pp.120–1 When in 1827 Bennett left Ceylon, it was under a cloud: he had been accused of financial mismanagement. In 1828 he was again placed on half-pay, for the 3rd Ceylon Regiment. In 1829 Bennett was listed as a Fellow of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

, with a London address in Prospect Place, and given as a Fellow of the Horticultural Society. In 1830 he petitioned Parliament to look into the conduct of Sir Edward Barnes, as Governor of Ceylon. In 1837, he appealed to

Sir Alexander Johnston ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

for support. Working as a printer, he suffered bankruptcy in 1839, and was confined to the Fleet Prison.

Works

Bennett wrote: *''A Selection from the Most Remarkable and Interesting Fishes Found on the Coast of Ceylon'' (1830). Bennett acknowledges the assistance with the fish of

Thomas Hardwicke Major-General Thomas Hardwicke (1756 – 3 March 1835) was an English soldier and naturalist who was in India from 1777 to 1823. He collected numerous specimens of natural history and had them painted by Indian artists. From these paintings ma ...

. *''The Coco-nut Palm, Its Uses and Cultivation'' (1836) *''Ceylon and Its Capabilities: An Account of Its Natural Resources, Indigenous Productions, and Commercial Facilities'' (1843). It includes description of a ''nadagama'' theatre performance, a Singhalese form derived from the ''natakam'' of south India.

Family

Bennett married in 1815 Frances Luttrell Moriarty.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, John Whitchurch 1790 births 1853 deaths Royal Marines officers British colonial army officers British naturalists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London

Life

Works

Family

See also

Notes