Bennett's parents were from one of the oldest families to have settled in Halton County, being of United Empire Loyalist origin from Massachusetts.

[4] She obtained degrees from the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall, where she took active part in political debates.

[3] Bennett was called to the bar in 1930,[5] and, in 1945, became the fourth woman in the British Commonwealth to be named as a King's Counsel.

Cleaver did not run again in 1953, and Bennett won the riding over new Liberal candidate Murray McPhail.

Bennett died at her home on November 12, 1956, being the first female MP in Canada ever to do so in office.