John Bennet (judge)

Sir John Bennet (1553 – 15 February 1627) was a judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1597 and 1621.

[2] He advanced his career in other areas, serving as a legal adviser to a commission negotiating with Scotland about the security of the border, and in 1599 was appointed to the Council of the North.

[2] During his time in Parliament, he defended the ecclesiastical courts but was unsuccessful in preventing a bill prohibiting married men residing with their families in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

[6] Bennet, who was interested in the affairs of Oxford University, was asked by Sir Thomas Bodley to act as fund-raiser for the Bodleian Library, a task he carried out efficiently.

[2] However, he was accused by Richard Kilvert in Parliament of extracting bribes and excessive fees in his judicial work.

He was bailed in the sum of £20,000 and ordered to pay to Oxford University £1,000 that he still had as executor of Thomas Bodley's estate: he only paid £550.

It was said that his profiteering from his post overshadowed that of Francis Bacon: "Sir John Bennet hath made my Lord Chancellor an honest man".

[2] Leonora wore a large English-style farthingale in Amsterdam, and received unwelcome attention from the local people.

Arms of Bennet: Gules, a bezant between three demi-lions rampant argent [ 1 ]
Mural monument in York Minster to Anne Weekes, 1st wife of Sir John Bennet