William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875) was a composer, pianist, conductor and music educator. Please see the Grove Music Online for further details.

Biographical details of J.R. Sterndale Bennett and Robert Sterndale Bennett as provided by William Sterndale Bennett's great-great-grandson Barry:

James Robert Sterndale Bennett was born on 11 June 1847, the younger son of the composer Sir William Sterndale Bennett. He was educated at Kensington School. At St John's College, Cambridge he became the 18th Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos of 1869 and was later elected a Fellow. In 1871 he became an Assistant Mathematics Master and the first Director of Music at Sherborne School in Dorset, and then a Senior Mathematical Lecturer at King's College London, where he was later elected an Honorary Fellow. From 1889 to 1898 he was Headmaster of Derby School. However, his main interest and energy lay in music. Not only was he a proficient pianist, but at Cambridge he helped to found the St John's College Musical Society. At Sherborne he founded the School Musical Society in 1871 and was a Visiting Lecturer on Acoustics at the Royal Academy of Music. He retired early in order to devote himself to writing a biography of his father, in which task he was much encouraged by his friends Sir Charles Stanford and Otto Goldschmidt. As a prelude to this he set about bringing together the huge family music library started by his father. The book was published in 1907 and remains an important reference point. He was also an early contributor to Grove's Dictionary of Music.

In 1876 James Robert married Mabel Agnes Gaskell, a descendent of the author Elizabeth Gaskell. They had six sons and two daughters. Walter was killed at Ypres during the First World War serving with the Royal Naval Divisions having twice been awarded the DSO, and John served as an Army officer in India. The others all entered the musical profession. Robert and T.C. (Tom), both graduated from the Royal College of Music. Ernest became a distinguished theatre and opera director in Canada whilst Jimmy married the actress Athene Seyler. In his spare time James Robert found time to produce a mathematical schema of the tides governing the English Channel, translated the Bible into Greek and back to English in order to analyse the differences, and traced the family tree back some two hundred years. A family man with a strong sense of posterity he nevertheless displayed a diffidence which shadowed him throughout his life, as if regarding it as impious to attempt to follow the profession of which his father was the acknowledged head in this country. In the biographical comments supporting the family tree, and in the biography of his father, his genuine and gentle modesty was such that he omits to say anything at all about himself. James Robert died at his home in Dymchurch on 4 June 1928 leaving an important foundation for the benefit of future generations of those interested in 19th-century musicological research.

Robert Sterndale Bennett was born in Southwold, East Anglia on 12 September 1880, a son of James Robert. From 1889 to 1897 he attended Derby School, where his father was Headmaster. He then entered the Royal College of Music studying mainly under Dr Walford Davies. In 1900 he gained his ARCM diploma for piano performance. In 1901 he won the Stewart of Rannoch Scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, studying under Dr Charles Wood. He received his BA in 1904 (and MA in 1908) and won the Carter Prize on being awarded his ARCO diploma. He then entered the music teaching profession, firstly on the staff at Fettes College in Edinburgh and then from 1908 to 1945 as Director of Music at Uppingham School. Having joined the Artists Rifles as an undergraduate, he went on, as a Captain, to command the Uppingham School Officer Cadet Force. He was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the TD in 1919. During the Second World War he was promoted to Major and appointed to be responsible for local Home Guard operations.

His pupils at Uppingham included the composer E.J. Moeran. He carried out pioneering work to establish music in the curriculum at a national level. As a Senior Examiner to the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music he visited Canada in 1925, 1933 and 1947, New Zealand in 1951 and Malta in 1960. He was awarded an Honorary ARCM in 1935, and in 1938 became the President of the Music Masters Association. His memberships included the Athenaeum, the Royal Musical Association and Incorporated Society of Musicians. From 1938 to 1950 he was a regular broadcaster for the BBC Midland Home Service addressing music for the young (transcripts deposited in the Bodleian) and he became a regular lecturer throughout the UK. Composing and arranging included 'Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree' with Royal patronage in 1936, and 'Who's Who in the Zoo' based on words by J.B. Morton (Beachcomber at the Daily Express). This was performed by the distinguished bass Ian Wallace on the BBC in 1961 and one of the songs was chosen for repeat on 'Pick of the Week'. Shortly after his retirement from Uppingham, he moved to Westcott in Surrey, where he served on the Committee of the Leith Hill Musical Festival, in close collaboration with his old friend Dr Ralph Vaughan Williams. He married Dorothy Miller (1893-1985) in 1912 and had three children, Elizabeth, Robin (a Commander in Royal Navy) and Anne (an ARCM, who later became an eye surgeon). He died on 17 August 1963.