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Lancelot Dent was a 19th-century British merchant resident for a period inCanton, China who dealt primarily inopium.
He was christened on August 4, 1799, inCrosby Ravensworth,Westmorland, England, son of William and Jane (Wilkinson) Dent.
Lancelot took over as senior partner of trading houseDent & Co. headquartered in Canton, when his brother Thomas departed the company in 1831. He had a powerful hold over some agency houses buying opium from theCalcutta auction, includingCarr, Tagore and Company, managed byBengali merchantDwarkanath Tagore.
Together with Thomas, Lancelot commissioned construction ofFlass House, now a grade two listed building in thePalladian style, on land inherited from their sister in England's northernLake District.[1] The property would remain in the Dent family until 1972, when it was sold to banker, historian and writerFrank Welsh.[2]
Lancelot andJohn Dent were consuls of Italy in Hong Kong.[citation needed]
Lancelot had a son, John Dent Fish born 1828 in Macau, with Mary Colledge, the sister ofThomas Richardson Colledge. She later married Captain John Fish and her son adopted his stepfather's surname, but Lancelot was listed as the father in documents.[3]
Dent died in London on 28 November 1853 aged 54 and buried atSt Lawrence's Church Crosby Ravensworth Cumbria
This new book about one of Lancelot Dent's close friends, Thomas Richardson Colledge, features interesting facts about Lancelot Dent[permanent dead link]
