Article

Charles James Fox Bennett

Published Online February 14, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Charles James Fox Bennett, merchant, politician, premier of Newfoundland 1870-74 (b at Shaftesbury, Eng 11 June 1793; d at St John's 5 Dec 1883). Bennett was one of the wealthiest merchants in mid-19th-century Newfoundland.

Bennett, Charles James Fox

Charles James Fox Bennett, merchant, politician, premier of Newfoundland 1870-74 (b at Shaftesbury, Eng 11 June 1793; d at St John's 5 Dec 1883). Bennett was one of the wealthiest merchants in mid-19th-century Newfoundland. Besides involvement in the fish trade, he started a brewery, a distillery, a foundry and a shipbuilding yard. He commissioned extensive mineral surveys along the coasts, and in the 1860s developed the prosperous copper mine at Tilt Cove (Notre Dame Bay).

Bennett was also an important leader of the anticonfederate party in the late 1860s. He was largely responsible for the overwhelmingly successful campaign mounted against the confederates (led by Frederick B.T. CARTER) in 1869. The anticonfederate government of 1870 to 1874 managed the colony's affairs with reasonable efficiency, but the premier could not maintain party unity. Bennett's resignation in January 1874 ended his effective political career, although he remained an MLA until 1878.