John Whitchurch Bennett

John Whitchurch Bennett (28 July 1790 – 10 June 1853)[1] was a British army officer, official and printer, and was also known as a naturalist.

[2] With a civil service appointment in Ceylon, he served in junior posts, and then was appointed magistrate of the Mahagampattu district, at Galle and Hambantota on the south coast of the island, in 1826.

[3][4][5] When in 1827 Bennett left Ceylon, it was under a cloud: he had been accused of financial mismanagement.

[7] In 1829 Bennett was listed as a Fellow of the Linnean Society, with a London address in Prospect Place, and given as a Fellow of the Horticultural Society.

[8] In 1830 he petitioned Parliament to look into the conduct of Sir Edward Barnes, as Governor of Ceylon.