Archive of the Bennett Family

Single Item

Shelfmark: MSS. Atlan. s. 22

Held at the Weston Library

The collection includes family letters, reminiscences, documentation, legal certificates, and newspaper cuttings.

Comprises:

Folder 1: Family letters, with typed transcripts, dating from 1831-1850, written by James Charles Graham Bennett's parents and siblings. Includes:

letters, with typed transcripts
a notebook, with notes on family members and a hand written copy of a letter, written and owned by Albert F. Bennett (Grandson of Robert Miller Bennett, great-grandson of James Bennett), dated 1897.

Folder 2: Contents found in a leather wallet, which was passed through the family to Violet Bennett (descendant of J.C.G. Bennett) containing letters, documentation, legal certificates, and newspaper cuttings, dating from 1835 to 1945.

Folder 3: Transcript of George Brooks Bennett's reminiscences, dated 1885, which he wrote to his eighth child, Dora Elizabeth Bovell Bennett.

Dates

Creation: 1831-1945

Extent

1 box

Language of Materials

English

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MSS. Atlan. s. 22, folder 1, fol. 1].

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Shelfmark:

MSS. Atlan. s. 22

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 5194

Additional Description

Abstract

The papers of the Bennett family of St Helena are a collection of letters, documents, notebooks, and transcripts dated from 1831 to 1945.

Biographical / Historical

The papers focus on the family of Captain James Bennett, who first came to the island in 1796, at the age of 23, as a part of the Honourable company, 4th Battalion, reinforcing the garrison of St Helena. During the next half a century, most of the family spent their time on St Helena. James's eldest son, James Charles Graham Bennett, is the recipient of all the family letters in folder 1, as he was working and living in London as a lawyer, and after his father's death in 1935 he became the head of the family. Many papers with later dates also relate to James's grandchildren.