Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett (August 6, 1609 - April 12, 1675) was an English Colonial Governor of Virginia.
Born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, Bennett served as governor from April 30, 1652, until March 2, 1655. His uncle, Edward Bennett, was a wealthy merchant from London and one of the few Puritan members of the Virginia Company, who had traveled to Virginia Colony in 1621 and settled in Warrascoyack. Richard Bennett followed his uncle there as a representative of his business interests, and quickly rose to prominence, serving in the House of Burgesses in 1629 and 1631 and becoming a leader of the small Puritan community south of the James River, taking them from Warrasquyoake to Nansemond beginning in 1635. He was a member of the Governor Francis Wyatt's Council in 1639-42. In 1648, he fled to Anne Arundel, Maryland. Continued