Francis Oswald Bennett

Francis Oswald Bennett (19 February 1898 – 4 August 1976) was a New Zealand medical doctor, military medical administrator and writer.

Early life and education Bennett was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on 19 February 1898. He attended Fairview School in Timaru and Timaru Boys High School before going on to study medicine at the University of Otago in 1917.

Career Bennett graduated with an MB ChB in 1926. The essay was based on his experience in Blackball. He received an MD from the University of New Zealand in 1934 for his thesis on anaemia in pregnancy. He wrote several more books including a history of Christchurch Hospital Hospital on the Avon, a fictionalised history of Canterbury March of the little men and a biography of his father-in-law Thomas Brash The road from Saddle Hill. The latter, along with his own autobiography A Canterbury tale were published posthumously.

Bennett died in Christchurch on 4 August 1976.

Personal life Bennett married Pearl Allan Brash in 1927 and they had five children.

Selected publications

Gentlemen of the Jury (1937) - co-authored with Doris Gordon Hospital on the Avon: the history of the Christchurch hospital, 1862-1962 (1962) Cashmere Sanatorium (now Coronation Hospital), 1906-1964 (1964) The tenth home (1966) March of the little men (1971) A Canterbury tale: the autobiography of Dr. Francis Bennett (1980) The road from Saddle Hill: being the biography of a New Zealander, Thomas Cuddie Brash (1982)