Elizabeth Bentley (1767–1839) was an English poet, one of a small wave of British and Irish writers from the labouring classes in the eighteenth century.

The encouragers of indigent merit are entreated to favor the authoress with their names and subscriptions; Which will be taken by W. Stevenson, at the Norfolk Arms; and all the Booksellers in Norwich.

As a labouring-class poet, Bentley—"content to be the last and lowest of the tuneful train"[4]—adopted a humble stance towards her readers and let it be known that the venture was intended to establish an annuity for her mother and herself.

Cowper compared her favourably with Mary Leapor, a labouring-class poet of the previous generation, citing her "strong natural genius.

[1] After the publication of her first volume, Bentley kept a small boarding school and did not publish much – some poems for children which she co-authored with the prolific Ellenor Fenn;[3][6] an ode on the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) – for three decades.