Sir Frederic Mackarness Bennett (2 December 1918 – 14 September 2002) was a British journalist, author, barrister and Conservative politician who served as a Member of Parliament for 35 years. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1985, and a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London in 1990. He was also Lord of the manor of Mawddwy in Wales. Early years The second son of Sir Ernest Nathaniel Bennett, (died 1947) of Cwmllecoediog, Aberangell, Machynlleth, Wales, by his wife Marguerite (née Kleinwort), Bennett was educated at Westminster School, and Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the English Bar in November 1946. He subsequently served as an Advocate in the High Court of Southern Rhodesia from March 1947, and in 1947 he made the first overland car journey from South Africa to England. From 1947 to 1949 he was an Official Observer in the Greek Civil War, becoming diplomatic correspondent for the Birmingham Post from 1950 to 1952. Later a director in various financial and industrial institutions in the United Kingdom and overseas, he was also an underwriter at Lloyd's. Military In 1939 Bennett enlisted in the Middlesex Yeomanry. He was commissioned as an officer into the Royal Artillery in 1940; commended for gallantry in 1941; was Military Experimental Officer in the Petroleum Warfare Department, 1943–1946, then released to reserve with the permanent rank of Major. Political career At the 1945 general election, Bennett was an unsuccessful candidate in the Burslem constituency, in Staffordshire. At the 1950 general election, he stood in the Birmingham Ladywood constituency, again unsuccessfully. The following year, at the 1951 general election, he was finally elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Reading North. When that constituency was abolished for the general election in May 1955, Bennett stood for in election in the new Reading seat, but lost by 238 votes to Labour's Ian Mikardo, the outgoing MP for the abolished Reading South constituency. In October 1955, the MP for Torquay, Charles Williams, died after more than thirty years as the town's MP. Bennett was selected as Conservative candidate for the resulting by-election, which he won with a majority of over 10,000 votes. He represented Torquay until the constituency was abolished for the February 1974 general election, when he was returned to Parliament for the new Torbay constituency. He held that seat until he retired from the Commons at the 1987 general election.