George Bennet (missionary)

George Bennet (16 April 1774 – 13 November 1841) was an English missionary from Sheffield, Yorkshire. He travelled widely in Asia.

George Bennet

Life

Bennet was a Congregationalist organiser in Sheffield.^[1] He was also a philanthropist.^[2] In 1821 he set out with Daniel Tyerman, supported financially by the London Missionary Society. They travelled together to China, Southeast Asia, and India.^[3][4]

Bennet stopped in Macau during his Pacific voyage. He was impressed by the garden and aviary of opium trader Thomas Beale, devoting 45 pages of his travelogue to them.^[5] Bennet and Tyerman made an extended stay in Tahiti, and Bennet's letters from there were published in the Sheffield Iris by James Montgomery.^[6] Tyerman died in Madagascar, where they had set up missions with the support of King Radama I.^[7]

Bennet also travelled to the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, New South Wales, Java, Singapore and Calcutta.^[8]

After his voyage Bennet gave historical artifacts that he had collected to the London Natural History Museum. He died in London on 13 November 1841.^[9] He is buried with an inscribed monument in his memory in Sheffield General Cemetery.

See also

William Ellis (missionary)

References

1. Alan Kidd; David Nicholls (8 October 1999). Gender, Civic Culture and Consumerism: Middle-Class Identity in Britain, 1800-1940. Manchester University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-7190-5676-5.
2. Gospel Studies website, John Love in London (Part 5) - The first mission of the London Missionary Society, by Roy Middleton, page 143
3. Montgomery, James; Daniel Tyerman; George Bennet (1832). Journal of voyages and travels by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq: deputed from the London missionary society, to visit their various stations in the South Sea Islands, China, India, etc. between the years 1821 and 1829, Volume 3. London Missionary Society.
4. Porter, Andrew N. (2004). Religion versus empire?: British Protestant missionaries and overseas expansion, 1700-1914. Manchester University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-7190-2823-6.
5. Fan, Fa-ti (2004). British Naturalists in Qing China: Science, Empire, and Cultural Encounter. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. pp. 44-45.
6. Alan Kidd; David Nicholls (8 October 1999). Gender, Civic Culture and Consumerism: Middle-Class Identity in Britain, 1800–1940. Manchester University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-7190-5676-5.
7. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). "Tyerman, Daniel" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 57. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
8. National Library of Australia website, Guide to the Collections held by the Sheffield City Archives (M2722-M2726)
9. Register of Missionaries, Deputations, etc., from 1796 to 1896. 1896. p. 353.