BENNET, HENRY, EARL OF ARLINGTON
Arms.—Within the Garter. Gu., a bezant between three demi lions rampant arg. Bennet.
Coronet.—That of an Earl.
[Hist. del Ministerio del Card. Guilio Mazarino. Colonia, 1669.]
Henry Bennet (born 1618, died 20th July 1685) was the second son of Sir John Bennet of Dawley in Middlesex. He was an excellent scholar and linguist, and a skilled diplomatist, especially in foreign affairs, but his standard of political morality does not appear to have been a very high one.
Bennet was a favourite of Charles II. for a long time, and the king honoured him highly. He was made Keeper of the Privy Purse, and Secretary of State in 1662; next year he was created Baron Arlington. In 1672 he was made a Knight of the Garter and Earl of Arlington, in 1674 Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and in 1675 a Lord of the Admiralty.
Arlington was a member of the Cabal Ministry; in 1674 he was impeached for his promotion of popery, breach of trust, and other misdeeds, but the vote of censure was lost. In 1674 he sold his secretaryship to Sir Joseph Williamson, and retired, more or less in disgrace, to his estate at Euston in Suffolk, where he had built a splendid house. Here he died in 1685.
