He was the elder brother of the botanist John Joseph Bennett.[1] Bennett was born at Hackney and practiced as a surgeon, but his chief pursuit was always zoology. In 1822 he attempted to establish an entomological society, which later became a zoological society in connection with the Linnean Society. This in turn became the starting point of the Zoological Society of London, of which Bennett was Secretary from 1831 to 1836.[2] His works included The Tower Menagerie (1829) and The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society (1831).