William Edward John Bennett was a general surgeon in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. He was born in Margate, Kent, on 12 February 1921, the second child and first son of William Robert Bennett, an inspector of taxes, and Elizabeth Mary Bennett née Knuckey, a civil servant and the daughter of a cattle buyer. He was educated at King's College School in Wimbledon, and then went on to study medicine at King's College, London, where he won the Burrard prize in forensic medicine and qualified in 1943. He was a captain in the RAMC from May 1944 to June 1947. On demobilisation, he was a senior casualty officer and surgical registrar at King's College Hospital. He gained his FRCS in 1950. He emigrated to Canada in 1955. He was a locum surgeon at Twillingate Hospital, Newfoundland, and then moved on to Swift Current and then Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan. From 1972 until his retirement in 1989 he was a consultant surgeon at the Powell River General Hospital. He was director of the Saskatchewan Surgical Society and medical officer of the Moose Jaw unit of the Saskatchewan Dragoons, a reserve regiment of the Canadian Army. In his earlier years he enjoyed playing rugby, later he skied, sailed, particularly on his boat *Niamh*, hiked and was interested in motor sports. He died on 6 April 2012 at the age of 91 and was survived by his wife, Yvette Arvil Peggy Franklin, whom he married in 1951, their daughters Mary and Susan, and their grandchildren, Matthew, Timothy, Benjamin, Sara, Emma and Megan. His son Alan predeceased him in 1988.