Gill Bennett

{{Short description|British historian and civil servant}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = Gill Bennett | honorific_suffix = OBE | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | region = | nationality = | citizenship = | residence = | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | home_town = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater = Somerville College, Oxford | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Historian | sub_discipline = Diplomatic history, Political history | workplaces = Foreign and Commonwealth Office | doctoral_students =  | notable_students =  | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }}

'''Gillian Bennett''' is a British historian and civil servant, previously the Chief Historian of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1995 and 2005.

== Career == After graduating from Somerville College, University of Oxford in 1969,<ref name="Oxford Today 2013">{{cite journal |title=Book reviews |journal=Oxford Today |date=March 2013 |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=55 |url=https://issuu.com/oxfordalumni/docs/final_ot-tt-2013/55}}</ref> Bennett began her career in the Foreign Office in 1972 as a research assistant in what was then called the Historical Branch.<ref name="Smith">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Richard |title=History at the heart of diplomacy |url=https://history.blog.gov.uk/2018/11/28/history-at-the-heart-of-diplomacy/ |website=History of government |access-date=22 August 2019 |date=28 November 2018}}</ref> She held a number of roles within the wider FCO, and in 1995 was appointed to the newly-created position of Chief Historian.<ref name="Women and the FCO, 2018">{{cite book |author1=FCO Historians |title=Women and the Foreign Office |date=2018 |page=24 |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/women_in_diplomacy_history_note__5b |access-date=22 August 2019}}</ref> In this role, she edited the documentary history of British foreign policy since 1945, ''Documents on British Policy Overseas'', and give historical advice to ministers and officials.<ref name="RUSI">{{cite web |title=Gill Bennett OBE |url=https://rusi.org/people/bennett-obe |publisher=Royal United Services Institute |access-date=22 August 2019}}</ref>

In 1998, FCO historians were commissioned by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook to investigate the authenticity of the Zinoviev Letter,<ref name="Barber 2018">{{cite news |last1=Barber |first1=Tony |title=The Zinoviev Letter by Gill Bennett — a mystery of revolution and attribution |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5ca75d4c-ac61-11e8-94bd-cba20d67390c |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=Financial Times |date=19 October 2018}} {{subscription required|s}}</ref> and Bennett authored the report of their findings, concluding that the letter was a forgery though not likely to have been directly the work of MI6 officers.<ref name="Norton Taylor 1999">{{cite news |last1=Norton-Taylor |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Norton-Taylor |title=Zinoviev letter was dirty trick by MI6 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/feb/04/uk.politicalnews6 |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=4 February 1999}}</ref><ref name="Bennett 1999">{{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title='A most extraordinary and mysterious business': The Zinoviev Letter of 1924 |journal=History Notes |date=February 1999 |issue=14 |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/history_notes_cover_hphn_14 |access-date=22 August 2019 |publisher=Foreign and Commonwealth Office}}</ref> In researching the origins of the letter, Bennett had full access to British government sources, and also drew upon Russian archival records.<ref name="Bennett 2018">{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198767305 |page=15 |url={{GBurl|nB5pDwAAQBAJ}}}}</ref> Bennett retired from the civil service in 2005, and was succeeded as chief historian by Patrick Salmon.<ref name="FCO Historians 2018">{{cite book |author1=FCO Historians |title=History at the Heart of Diplomacy: Historians in the Foreign Office, 1918-2018 |date=2018 |url=https://issuu.com/fcohistorians/docs/history_at_the_heart_of_diplomacy-w |access-date=22 August 2019}}</ref>

Since 2005, Bennett has published three monographs, ''Churchill's Man of Mystery: Desmond Morton and the World of Intelligence'' (2006),<ref name="Foot 2006">{{cite news |last1=Foot |first1=M. R. D. |authorlink1=M. R. D. Foot |title=The shadowy world of secrets |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/11th-november-2006/56/the-shadowy-world-of-secrets |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=11 November 2006}}</ref> ''Six Moments of Crisis: Inside British Foreign Policy'' (2013),<ref name="Hurd 2013">{{cite news |last1=Hurd |first1=Douglas |authorlink1=Douglas Hurd |title=Reviewed: Six Moments of Crisis - Inside British Foreign Policy by Gill Bennett |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/reviewed-six-moments-crisis-inside-british-foreign-policy-gill-bennett |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=New Statesman |date=25 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="Norton-Taylor 2013">{{cite news |last1=Norton-Taylor |first1=Richard |title=Past crises shed light on the present |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/defence-and-security-blog/2013/feb/19/defence-europe-us |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=19 February 2013}}</ref> and ''The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies'' (2018).<ref name="Judd 2018">{{cite news |last1=Judd |first1=Alan |authorlink1=Alan Judd |title=Did the notorious Zinoviev letter ever exist? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/08/did-the-notorious-zinoviev-letter-ever-exist/ |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Spectator |date=18 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="Udy 2018">{{cite news |last1=Udy |first1=Giles |authorlink1=Giles Udy |title=Review: The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy That Never Dies by Gill Bennett — was it an anti-Labour plot? |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/review-the-zinoviev-letter-the-conspiracy-that-never-dies-by-gill-bennett-was-it-an-anti-labour-plot-j0wnc0l8h |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The Times |date=25 August 2018}} {{Subscription required|s}}</ref>

== Major publications == *{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=Churchill's Man of Mystery: Desmond Morton and the World of Intelligence |date=2006 |series=Government Official History Series |isbn=9780415394307 |url={{GBurl|Och8AgAAQBAJ}} |doi=10.4324/9780203966785}} *{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=Six Moments of Crisis: Inside British Foreign Policy |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199583751 |url={{GBurl|6EtoAgAAQBAJ}}}} *{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Gill |title=The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy that Never Dies |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198767305 |url={{GBurl|nB5pDwAAQBAJ}}}}

== References == <references/>

== External links == *{{Twitter|GillHistory}}

{{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=Heather Yasamee|as=Head of Historical Branch,<br />Foreign and Commonwealth Office}} {{s-ttl|title=Chief Historian, Foreign and Commonwealth Office|years=1995–2005}} {{s-aft|after=Patrick Salmon}} |- {{s-end}}

Category:British historians Category:Civil servants in the Foreign Office Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)