George C. Bennett

George Cecil Westropp Bennett (1877 – 20 June 1963) was an Irish Cumann na nGaedheal and Fine Gael politician from 1927 to 1951. Biography He was born in Ballymurphy, his father's estate in County Limerick in 1877. He was the second son of Captain Thomas Westropp Bennett, a British Army officer. His elder brother Thomas Westropp Bennett was a Senator and Cathaoirleach of the Irish Free State Senate as well as serving in the Board of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS) for many years with Sir Horace Plunkett. George C. Bennett spent several years farming in Canada before returning to Limerick. He became a magistrate, county councillor and vice-chairman of the local hospital committee and was involved in many other charitable projects. A farmer, he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Cumann na nGaedheal Teachta Dála (TD) at the June 1927 general election for the Limerick constituency. He later joined Fine Gael. Throughout his time in the Dáil he was renowned as a strong defender of the Agricultural interest. After a redrawing of the boundaries of the Limerick constituency he was not re-elected in the 1948 general election but the Inter Party Government Taoiseach John A. Costello nominated him to the Seanad where he sat until 1951.