Thomas Jewell Bennett

Sir Thomas Jewell Bennett

CIE (16 May 1852 in Wisbech – 16 January 1925 in Hans Place, London) was a British journalist and Conservative Party politician. He is most notable as an editor of The Times of India, as well as its principal proprietor. He was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Sevenoaks

constituency (in Kent, England) from 1918 to 1923.

Bennett was the son of John Thomas Jewell who was a first cousin of the English composer

Times of India

which he modernised and expanded until it later came to be regarded as the leading English language newspaper in Asia.

When he left India in 1901, 3,000 Guzerat farmers presented him with an address thanking him for their support during the famines they suffered in the late 1890s. In 1902, he was awarded the silver medal of the

1903 Durbar Honours.^[1]^[2]

He contested the Brigg constituency unsuccessfully in 1910 before being elected for Sevenoaks in 1918 as a Unionist. He was an active member of the Joint Select Committee on India in 1919, which framed the Government of India Bill of that year to expand participation of Indians in the Indian government, and in a 1920 Commons speech on the 1919 unrest in India and the Amritsar massacre of unarmed civilians he strongly defended Indian rights. He also represented the Diocese of Rochester in the National Assembly of the Church of England.

Bennett was knighted in 1921 for public services. Elena Brooke-Jones, his second wife, whom he married in 1917, worked actively for local causes in Kent until her death in 1967. Bennett's obituary in The Times in 1925 noted his steadfast work for Indian advancement.

References

^ "The Durbar Honours". The Times. No. 36966. London. 1 January 1903. p. 8.
^ "No. 27511". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1903. p. 3.

External links

T.J.Bennett, an early supporter of Indian Home Rule, Britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk. Accessed 30 November 2022.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Henry Forster	Member of Parliament for Sevenoaks 1918–1923	Succeeded by Ronald Williams

British journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency and born in the 1850s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "The Durbar Honours". The Times. No. 36966. London. 1 January 1903. p. 8.

[2] "No. 27511". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1903. p. 3.

[1]

[2]