George Bennet. Source: Picture Sheffield.
During the nineteenth century religious groups in the UK, Europe and the US supported missions to spread Christian teaching across the globe. One group, the interdenominational evangelical London Missionary Society, formed in 1795, had Congregational missions in Oceania, Africa, and the Americas. There were also Presbyterians (notable for their work in China), Methodists, Baptists, and other Protestants groups involved. The missions were a source of education and welfare, and middle-class citizens, shaped by philanthropic principles, were keen to support the work. However the missions were also, unwitting or not, the agents of colonialism, undermining and, in some cases, obliterating, what they believed to be inferior cultures.
The sadly damaged Grade II Listed monument below the Samuel Worth Chapel on plots FF 142 – FF 143 commemorates Sheffield born George Bennet who, with the Rev. Daniel Tyerman, was sent by the London Missionary Society to visit and report back on the progress of its missions in the Pacific Islands, Australia, India, China and South Africa. George Bennet travelled 90,000 miles on a journey which took from 1821 to 1829. George Bennet is buried in London.