Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bennett, William James Early
BENNETT, The Rev. William James Early, M.A., born about 1805, was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, of which he was a student, and where he graduated B.A. in 1827. He held for some years the incumbency of Portman Chapel, and that of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, but resigned the latter in 1851, in consequence of a popular outcry raised against his "Tractarian" tendencies, and almost immediately afterwards was presented to the vicarage of Frome Selwood, Somersetshire. He is the author of a large number of theological works, of which the best known are—"Principles of the Book of Common Prayer;" "The Eucharist: its History, Doctrines, and Practice;" "Errors of Romanism;" "Lives of Fathers of the Church of the Fourth Century," and various sermons and pamphlets; has edited the "Theologian," "The Old Church Porch," &c., and has contributed largely to religious periodical literature. In 1871 the case of "Sheppard v. Bennett" came on for hearing before the Privy Council, and was decided in favour of Mr. Bennett's teaching on the subject of the Real Presence. Since then, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, having referred to it, was answered by Mr. Bennett in a pamphlet entitled "A Defence of the Catholic Faith."