Joseph Bennett (29 November 1831 – 12 June 1911) was an English music critic and librettist. After an early career as a schoolmaster and organist, he was engaged as a music critic by The Sunday Times in 1865. Within five years he was appointed chief music critic of The Daily Telegraph, a post he held from 1870 to 1906. Among Bennett's other work was writing or adapting libretti for cantatas and other large-scale orchestral and choral works by British composers such as Arthur Sullivan, Frederic Cowen and Alexander Mackenzie.