BENNETT, EMILY (1871-1941), feminist and political organiser, was born on 29 January 1871 at Camperdown, Sydney, eighth daughter and ninth child of Irish-born parents Denis McNamarra, soap boiler, and his wife Mary Elizabeth, née Green. On 11 April 1894 at her mother's Camperdown home Emily married with Catholic rites Francis Andrew Bennett, a widower with three young children, who lived at Cootamundra. Their only son was born next year. The family moved to Singleton where Frank set up as an auctioneer and served as mayor (1902, 1903 and 1907), town clerk (1908-12) and secretary of the Northern Agricultural Association. After he drowned in a dam in September 1913, Emily returned to Sydney.

Active in the cause of women before and during World War I, in 1921-23 Emily Bennett was organising secretary of the Women's Reform League of New South Wales which was led by Laura Luffman. Supporting the ...

Read more at the source website

Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography