Richard Bennett, English-American politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (d. 1675)
Richard Bennett (1608 – 12 April 1675) was an English planter and Governor of the Colony of Virginia, serving 1652–1655. He had first come to the colony in 1629 to represent his uncle Edward Bennett's business interests, managing his plantation known as Bennett's Welcome in Warrascoyack (later known as Isle of Wight County).
Bennett also acquired his own land patents, ultimately owning and developing thousands of acres in Virginia and Maryland. He settled with other Puritans in Nansemond. There he and others later converted to become Quakers under the influence of George Fox. In 1665 he acquired 2500 acres at what is known as Bennett's Adventure, developing a plantation on Wicomico Creek in Wicomico County, Maryland.