A collection of portraits of all former Speakers encircles the floor of the House of Assembly. That collection, which was initially commissioned by Premier Joseph Smallwood in 1949, has remained incomplete, due to the longstanding unavailability of a likeness of former Speaker Thomas Bennett (1834-1837).

Speaker Roger Fitzgerald said "This ceremony today is of historical significance to our Legislature. I am delighted to see that the collection of portraits is now complete."

Trine Schioldan, a member of the staff of the Legislative Library, has conducted exhaustive research at the provincial, national, and international levels in search of a likeness of Thomas Bennett. Those efforts were finally rewarded by locating a photograph in a private collection in England. Robert Bayley of Godalming, Surrey, a distant relative of Thomas Bennett, has graciously donated the photograph to the House of Assembly, from which a portrait has been painted by Gerald Squires.

Thomas Bennett was born in Shaftesbury, England in 1788. He moved to St. John�s likely in the early 1820s to join his brother and business partner, Charles Fox Bennett, who later became Newfoundland�s fifth Prime Minister, from 1870-1874. Thomas Bennett was elected to the House of Assembly as a Member for the District of Twillingate and Fogo in 1832, and held the position of Speaker from 1834-1837. In 1848, Mr. Bennett was appointed a magistrate in St. John�s, and was pensioned from that position in 1870. In August 1870, he retired to Shaftesbury, where he died in 1872.

It has been 171 years since Thomas Bennett�s tenure as Speaker. The unveiling today of the portrait of former Speaker Thomas Bennett marks the long-awaited completion of a chapter in the history of our Legislature.

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Media contact:

Marie Keefe
Policy and Communications Officer
House of Assembly
709-729-6943
mariekeefe@gov.nl.ca