Bennett was born in Spalding in 1797. In 1804 her father, Henry Bennett, died leaving a failed building business. Her mother Elizabeth (born Bright) had eight children to look after and the eldest was Sarah who was seven. Her godfather who was a Spalding based solicitor paid for her to go to a boarding school in Kensington called Camden House.
Her godfather's sister was involved with Camden House. After she left she was able to find work as a governess to several families. In 1817 she stopped working as a governess for eight years as she was employed by her former Camden House teachers at a school they were running in Spalding. After that she returned to being a governess until in 1837 she decided to open her own school in the town of Melton Mowbray with a friend named Susan Baldwin. The school did not allow the students to dance but it stressed the importance of religous instruction.
Bennett died in Nuneaton in 1861 and in the following year her memoir was published titled, The Christian Governess by George Bright Bennett who was a curate in Fleet.

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