William M. Hart-Bennett (1861–1918) was a British government official who served overseas. He was a British colonial minister in Nassau, Bahamas and a

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

(now known as

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

) from 29 January 1918 to 4 September 1918, and before that was employed as Colonial Secretary of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

."WIFE OF BAHAMA OFFICIAL.; Mrs. W. Hart Bennett, Who Was Lost, Prominent in Life There."
The New York Times

Personal life

Hart-Bennett was married on 27 April 1899 to Ella Mary Tuck, the daughter of Charles E. Tuck and his second wife Emily Mary Tuck of

Norwich, England Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

. Ella was an author and a prominent figure in Nassau's society. She was president of the Nassau Dumb Friends League and a member of the

Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE) is a women's charitable organization based in Canada. It provides scholarships, bursaries, book prizes, and awards, and pursues other philanthropic and educational projects in various communities ac ...

. She is best remembered as the author of the book ''An English Girl In Japan'' (1906). Ella died at the age of 49 in the sinking of the ''

RMS Empress of Ireland RMS ''Empress of Ireland'' was a British-built ocean liner that sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada following a collision in thick fog with the Norwegian collier in the early hours of 29 May 1914. Although the ship was ...

'' on 29 May 1914.

Death and legacy

Bennett himself died on 4 September 1918 from injuries sustained in a fire on 17 August 1918, when a flagpole at the courthouse fell on him. A new building (which now serves the Supreme Court) was completed in 1926, and its clock tower memorializes him.John Noble and Susan Forsyth, "Belize", pg 81

References

Colonial Administrative Service officers Governors of British Honduras 1861 births 1918 deaths Colonial Secretaries of the Bahamas Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Accidental deaths in Belize {{UK-gov-bio-stub