His mother was Raiha Ratete (Eliza Rogers), a high-born woman of Ngati Whakaue in Te Arawa, and his father was Thomas Jackson Bennett, a storekeeper who had emigrated to New Zealand from Ireland in 1849.

[1] In 1893 Bennett accepted a post at Putiki, Wanganui, as lay reader at the Māori mission, but by the end of 1895 he had returned to Nelson to engage in further study.

He was elected a member of the standing committee for the diocese of Waiapu, and served on the Te Aute Trust Board.

[1] In 1925 it was suggested at General Synod that a Maori diocese be established with its own bishop, partly in response to the formation of the Ratana church.

[1] Bennett was married to Hana Te Unuhi Mere Paaka (Hannah Mary Park) from 1899 until her death in 1909.