Edward Trusted Bennett (1 July 1831 – 16 November 1908), best known as Edward T. Bennett, was a British botanist and psychical researcher.
Biography
Bennett was born in London. His younger brother was the botanist Alfred William Bennett. As a young man he collected plant specimens in Cornwall and the New Forest.Anonymous. (1909). Book-Notes, News, Etc. Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 47: 39.Desmond, Ray. (1994). Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists. Taylor & Francis Ltd. p. 65. . Bennett was the last Quaker in Britain to be disowned for holding different theological opinions. In 1873, he was disowned for supporting the heretical views of Charles Voysey.Helmstadter, Richard J. (1997). Freedom and Religion in the Nineteenth Century. Stanford University Press. p. 147.Kennedy, Thomas C. (2001). British Quakerism, 1860-1920: The Transformation of a Religious Community. Oxford University Press. p. 81. .
He was a member of the British National Association of Spiritualists and the first secretary of the Society for Psychical Research.Oppenheim, Janet. (1985). The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850-1914. Cambridge University Press. p. 425. . From 1882 to 1902 he worked as an assistant secretary for the Society.Crabtree. Adam. (1988). Animal Magnetism, Early Hypnotism, and Psychical Research, 1766-1925: An Annotated Bibliography. Kraus International Publications. p. 349.
He died in Port Isaac, Cornwall.
Publications The Poetical Work of George Barlow: A Study (1903) The Society for Psychical Research: Its Rise & Progress & a Sketch of its Work (1903) Twenty Years of Psychical Research: 1882-1901 (1904) Automatic Speaking and Writing: A Study (1905) The Physical Phenomena Popularly Classed Under the Head of Spiritualism (1907) [With a brief introduction by Oliver Lodge] The Direct Phenomena of Spiritualism (1908) Psychic Phenomena (1909) [With a foreword by Oliver Lodge]
References
Further reading William F. Barrett. (1908). Obituary: Edward T. Bennett. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 26: 324–326.