Mary Letitia Somerville Bennett (9 January 1913 – 1 November 2005) was a British academic, best known for her tenure as Principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford between 1965 and 1980.
She obtained her first degree (in Classics) from Somerville College, Oxford, and then studied abroad, researching the grain supply of ancient Rome.
In 1955, she married senior civil servant John Sloman Bennett, who would be happy to take a back seat when she took over as Principal of the women's college, St Hilda's, from Kathleen Major in 1965.
Student power was on the increase and Bennett resisted making protest difficult.
St Hilda's commissioned Jean Cooke to paint a portrait of its principal.