The children of (5) James Dent and Elizabeth Mawson were:-
(a) John Henry Dent, known as ‘Jack’,
Jack was born 29 March 1873 at Millbeck. Birth Cert DAR The family were there at the time of the 1881 census. By 1901, Jack appears in Fisher Street, Miles Platting, Manchester, lodging with a Thomas Speight who originates from Kendal. As Jack’s father also originally came from Kendal, could Thomas have been a friend of the family? By 1906, Jack was back in the north, and on 6 October 1906 he married Lea Woodend at Cockermouth Registry Office. Lea (or Leah), born in 1885 at Ireleth, near Kirkby in Furness, had been a long-term friend of Annie Mary, and indeed was a witness to her and James Reay’s wedding a couple of years previously.
The following year, Jack and Leah emigrated to Canada, making their home in Nippising, near Haileybury in the Province of Ontario, where Jack found work labouring in one of the many mine mills in the area.
In February 1909, a son (A) James Dent was born at Haileybury. The family appear in Nippising in the Canadian Census of 1911. (District 99 para39, Sched 1, page 3-3001. Ancestry.com)
In August 1915, the family returned to England, sailing on the SS Pretorian from Montreal to Glasgow. It is not known what prompted this journey. Possibly some sense of loyalty during the period of war with Germany. On the ships manifest, Jack’s occupation is given as ‘miner’, and their intended address as Marsh Street, Askham in Furness, Leah’s family home. (Shipping Records, Ancestry.com)
On 22 October 1918, a child, (B) Isabel, was born at Askham. Sadly, in March the following year, Isabel died of Bronchitis at 18 Greta Villas, Keswick. She was buried in the grave of Thomas Martin, presumably family friends, near the front door of St John’s Church, Keswick. (Carol Laithwaite / Pat Greenhow (PH))
In May 1919, Jack, Leah and son James returned to Haileybury, Canada, sailing on the SS Tunisian to Montreal. It would appear that Jack and Leah had previously taken on Canadian citizenship as the shipping records note them as ‘returning Canadian citizen’. (Ancestry.com)
A second son,(C) Thomas Walter Dent, known in the family as Walter, was born in March 1921. Father Jack was then employed as a Gardener. (Canadian CR 1921, Haileybury, p42. Ancestry.com)
This photo would appear to be a ‘composite’ picture, as baby Isabel had already died when the younger son was born, and the ages of the boys don’t appear to ‘tally’.
The list of Electors of 1935 for Temiskaming, Haileybury, shows James H Dent, gardener; Leah Dent, married woman, and James Dent, assayer. (Ancestry.com)
John Henry Dent died 5 January 1942 aged 69 years, and lies at Mount Pleasant cemetery at Temiskaming.
A further List of Electors of 1945 lists Mrs Leah Dent, widow; James Dent, soldier on Active service, and T Walter Dent, geologist.(Ancestry.com)
John’s wife Leah (nee Woodend) died in December 1980 aged 98, and also lies at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, (Canadianheadstones.com (PH))
First son James attended Haileybury School of Mines. He trained and worked as an assayist at various gold mines in Quebec. As the 1945 census indicates, James served in the Canadian Forces in WW2, and English relatives believe he may have spent some time in the UK during this period.
Second son T Walter Dent started high school in 1935, again at Haileybury School of Mines where all mining subjects were included, in addition to the usual high school subjects. He went on and graduated with a B.Sc in Minerology and Geology from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Walter then worked for various gold mines in Quebec, becoming mine manager at Eldrich Mines in 1966, after which there was a downturn in the gold industry in Canada.
Walter married, first, Jean Elizabeth Bailie of Kingston, Ontario. Jean died in March 1977. (Ottowa Journal)
In 1978 in Ottowa, he married Francis Dawn Hassett, b 1932 in Brisbane, Australia. Francis had originally travelled to the US in the early 1960’s. Walter died in September 2006 whilst returning from a trip to Australia back to Canada. He is buried at Cataraqui Cemetery, which is associated with Kingston University, his alma mater.
(KG-0546-9) (Susan Gyimah)
This, and other records revealed lately, confirmed my beliefs of hearing, way back in my childhood, of Dent relatives working in the gold mining industry, probably gleaned from snatches of conversations overheard between Nana Reay (Annie Mary Dent) and various other relatives at The Forge, Scotforth; but not including me of course, a mere child! It also explains Christmas Cards from North America or Canada, sitting on the deep window ledges of the small fireside windows there I recall from back in the late 1940’s or early 50’s.
A recent contact (January 2020) reveals that other members of Leah’s ‘Woodend’ family also made there way to Canada about the same time; there being a flourishing branch of Woodend’s in Ottawa.
(b) Elizabeth Eleanor Dent , known as Lizzie, born 20 November 1875 at Millbeck, near Keswick. By the time of the 1891 census, Lizzie and the rest of the family were living at Bank Court, Keswick. On the 19 October 1893, at age 18 yrs, Lizzie married William Paterson at Cockermouth Registry Office. (Marr Cert, DAR)
William was born in 1870 at Blantyre, south east of Glasgow. He was a journeyman stonemason, and at the time of the marriage was living at Thirlmere, St John’s in the Vale, which suggest he was working on the building of the Thirlemere Reservoir and Aqueduct. The couple then moved back to William’s home town where, on 23 October 1894, daughter Elizabeth (Lizzie) Paterson was born, at Loanfoot, Blantyre.(Birth Cert, DAR)
On the 6 July 1896, Lizzie was joined by Margaret Paterson, known as Maggie, born at 219 Garbraid St, Glasgow.(Birth Cert, DAR)
William, living up to his occupation description as ‘journeyman stone mason’ then moved his family down to Shropshire where the Elan Valley Aqueduct was being built to supply water to Birmingham. On 25 September 1900, at 62 Old St, Ludlow, a son, John (Jack) Paterson was born. (Birth Cert, DAR)
By 1903, the family have returned to the Glasgow area where on 27 March 1903, a second son Robert Paterson was born at 47 Hill St, Maryhill.
By 1911, the family have moved out of what would have been a grim area of Glasgow, to Innes Park Buildings, Skelmorlie; and later to Wemyss Bay, on the Ayrshire coast.
Jack Paterson married Margaret Ellen (Daisy) McMillan of ‘Rockmount’, Skelmorlie on 28 August 1929 at St Joseph’s R.C. Church, Wemyss Bay, and they lived at Station Road, Inverkip. Jack became a chauffer to the Edwards family of George Edwards & Sons Jewellers, of Buchanan Street, Glasgow.
David Edwards, Snr & Jnr, lived at the house ‘Alipore’, lately, ‘Glendower House’ on Montgomery Terrace, Skelmorlie. ( CR 1901, Scotlands People.gov.uk), a late 19th century 2 storey villa with a 3 storey square tower, on the hillside above Skelmorlie. Mr Edwards allowed the McMillans use of the house when he was away on business, and there is little doubt that this was the locus of family visits and holidays for several of the Dent and Reay families in the 1930’s.
The house was designated a ‘listed’ building by the Ayreshire council in 1985.
(Historic Environment Scotland. LB7289.)
William Paterson died at their home in Victoria Place, Skelmorlie in February 1927.(Scotlands People 602/2-1) After William’s death, Elizabeth Eleanor appears to have returned to her roots at Keswick where, in February 1935, she died at The Headlands, a couple of doors away from her ‘Forrester’ relatives. (Death Cert, DAR)
(c) Thomas William Dent , known as Tommy, was born 20 November 1877 at Millbeck.
As one of several Thomas Williams’ in the greater family, care is needed in sorting yan from t’other!
By the time the family had moved to Banks Court, Tommy is working as an errand boy for an ‘aereated water company’.
We don’t know for certain what it was that attracted several of the Dent family to Glasgow; probably it was more exiting than the sedate Keswick of the time; but on the 2 June 1899, Tommy married Mary Sarah Conlin , aged 22 years, at Montgomerie Street, Maryhill, Glasgow. (Marr Cert, DAR.) Tommy gave his address as 219 Gairbraid Street, Glasgow, home at the time of his sister, Elizabeth Eleanor Dent (Lizzie), and his job as Journeyman (stone) Mason; another one!
Mary Sarah’s family were living at 65 Gairbraid Street. (Scotland CR 1891)
Tommy was an athletic fellow, playing football for a local team, and at one point won a medal for his sport.CL It is apparent that Tommy’s family were quite close to Lizzie and William Paterson, as Tommy with his wife Mary Sarah also travelled down to Ludlow, Shropshire, living on St Mary’s Lane, off Corve St, where on 9 March 1900 their first child, (A) James Dent was born. (Another repeated name.) Their stay at Ludlow was brief, as by December the following year the family had moved back to Glasgow where on 4 December 1901, their second child (B) Thomas William Dent was born, (see what I mean) at 836 Garscube Road, Glasgow.
Itchy feet, or more probably, ‘work’ for a quarryman, soon had Thomas William on the move again, as on 27 November 1905, daughter (C) Catherine Violet Dent was born at Masham, in Wensleydale, Yorkshire. The numerous quarries in the area kept Tommy here for several years. In late 1907, a daughter (D) Sarah Irene Dent was born, but died in infancy. In late August 1909, daughter (E) Jessie Dent was born at Masham. The 1911 census lists the family living in Park Street, Masham, with father Thomas William listed as ‘Stone Mason’ carrying out quarry work for Leeds Waterworks. There are still extensive quarry workings in this area today.
A later document indicates that Tommy left the quarries, moved a few miles west to Colne, and found employment at Sagar’s Tanyard in Colne.
A further child, (F) John Henry Dent was born, 8 September 1915 in Colne, whilst the family was living at 54 Cleveland St, Colne.
In October 1916, Tommy signed up with the 2/4 Loyal North Lancashire Regiment at Colne as Private 7078, later 203303. His address is given variously as 70 Oak Street or 54 Cleveland Street, Colne. After a short period of training, the Battalion arrived at (Le) Havre in France in the early hours of 8 February 1917 from Southampton on the ‘Duchess of Argyle’. They formed part of 170 Brigade (West Lancashire) Division, and attached to 2 ANZAC corps of the Second Army.
They went into trenches for the first time on 14 February 1916 at Sailly sur Lys, relieving a detachment of New Zealanders who had been ‘acclimatising’ themselves to conditions in this ‘quiet’ sector of Armentiers, after actions in Gallipoli. (The Long Long Trail web site) ‘The trenches were in a very bad state of repair, and flooded…. (research, Carl Parr, Feb 2009)
On 11 March 1917, Tommy was reported ‘Missing (Believed prisoner). Field 10-3-17 B213.01810.9’: ‘Believed prisoner’ is later struck out. (Soldiers Record – Casualty Form. WO 363 (National Archives, Kew.)
His local Colne newspaper carried the report of Tommy’s death under the heading, ‘Colne Soldier Dies in Germany’, however, this is a little misleading. Burial records indicate that Tommy’s remains were recovered in 1922 from a cemetery which had been behind German lines at Beaucamp (now Beaucamps-Ligny), then re-interned at the Commonwealth War Graves site, Pont-du-Hem, La Gorge in north west France.(CWGC site)
Thomas left a wife, Mary Sarah, and five children. The name T W Dent appears on the War Memorials of both Keswick and Colne.
The author has been pleased to have visited Tommy’s grave on a couple of occasions, and to have had his earlier scant details updated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records.
Life for Mary Sarah, as for all war widows was obviously difficult. On 19 April 1921, she married George Edward Barfoot at the Sacred Heart R.C. Church in Queens Street, Colne. (Marr Cert, DAR) George, born 1877 in Southampton, a widower, working as a labourer, had earlier signed up for the army, but had been discharged on health grounds.
The relationship does not appear to have lasted long, as in March 1924, Mary Sarah (as Barfoot), minus George, took herself and her children off to Canada where the family grew and flourished in the area of Valleyfield, Ontario. (See later). George appears to have died in the Colne area in 1929.
(d) Sarah Dent , known as Sally, was born 7 January 1881 at Millbeck, and is listed in the 1881 census as 3 months old. In about 1900, Sally went to stay with her older sister Lizzie in Maryhill, Glasgow for holiday; loved it so much she refused to return home to Keswick. (Winnie Hamilton nee Weir) In 1901 she was living at 61 Springbank Street, Kelvinside. (CR 1901, Scotlands People)
On 15 May 1903, Sally married Alexander Weir (Alec), at Conservative Hall, Maryhill, Glasgow. Sally had obtained employment as a Power Loom Weaver and Alec was a Journeyman Boilermaker.
Over the next few years they had children, Alexander Whitehill Weir , his grandfather’s name’s, born 17 February 1904 at 3 Oran Street, Maryhill;
James Walter Weir; known as Walter, born 13 September 1907 at Renfrew, and Winifred Elizabeth Weir, born 31 July 1909 at Renfrew. (Birth Certs, DAR, Scotlands People) By this date the family were living at 13 Westbank Terrace, Moorpark, Renfrew.
(CR 1911, Scotlands People)
On 27 April 1928, aged 24 years, Alex (Jnr) married 22 years old Martha McLellan Buchanan of Etterick Place, Saltcoates, Ayr. (Marr Cert, DAR) Martha was recorded as a Dynamite Worker, very probably working at the Nobel’s, later ICI, explosive manufacturer’s at Adrossan. Alex is shown as a ‘Driller’, probably a shipyard occupation, then living in Paisley Road, Renfrew.
Alex later moved down south, working at Chatham Dockyard in Kent. His wife Martha died in Chatham in 1961, (GRO Q1 1961 5b 375) and Alex died in 1973, also at Chatham.(GRO Q4 1973 5f 651)
James Walter never married. He continued to look after his mother Sally, after his father died in 1919.
Winnie married Robert Hamilton Marshall, 30 December 1932 at the Old Parish Manse, Renfrew. Robert was the son of Robert Hamilton, an Iron Turner, and Jessie Dingwall.
Winnie was a shop assistant, later rising to become manager at a Co-oP Drapery store. Robert, probably taking a lead from his father, became an engineer, specialising in industrial laundry equipment. They lived most of their married life in Milton Mains Road, Clydebank. Robert died at age 53 years of intestinal problems in October 1958. (Winnie Hamilton) Winnie lived on at Milton Mains Road until her peaceful death in February 2008.
(e) Walter Dent was born 8 February 1883. at Millbeck. He attended Brigham School, and then served his time as a tailor with Joseph Cockbain in St John’s Street, Keswick. In January or February of 1901, when he was eighteen years old, he enlisted in the Border Regiment at Carlisle Castle and served for three years, with a further nine years in the reserve.
On the 14th September 1905, he married Mary Elizabeth Airey at Threlkeld. He continued to live in Threlkeld for a while, later moving east of Penrith to Kirkland, working as an Iron Ore Miner, but about 1912, he took up the duties of a Postman at Windermere, living at Brookside, Bowness.
Walter was recalled to the colours in August 1914. The birth record of son Thomas William, born in November 1914 indicates that Walter was then a Lance Corporal in the 3rd Battalion, Border Regiment. The Battalion landed at Zeebrugge on 6th October 1914. The Long, Long Trail.The Company were in trenches near Cardonniere Farm, at Rouge Bancs, and billetted at Sailly sur Lys. The Company had been involved in the ‘armistice’ of Christmas 1914. 2nd Btn Border Reg war dairies. Walter himself wrote at Christmas, “they had a nice quiet job in the trenches – not doing any firing at one another.” “In fact, we were at the top of the trenches talking to each other; no one would believe it.”
Walter was killed during the morning of 23 January 1915, near Cordonniere Farm. He lies in Rue Petillon Cemetery near Fleurbaix. A family snapshot indicates that his wife Mary Elizabeth visited the cemetery in its early days, probably in the early 1920’s, before the installation of the now familiar formal layout of headstones , as at the time of my first visit in 2009. Again I was able to correct the misleading family details on the CWGC records.
Walter left, his wife Mary, and six young children all under the age of nine. His name appears on the War Memorials of both Keswick and Windermere.
(f) Annie Mary Dent was born 21 November 1884 at Bank Court, Keswick. Little is known of her early life, but it is believed she worked for a while at the Isolation Hospital, above Threlkeld, now the Blencathra Centre. Relatives recalled her talking of frequent walks over Castlerigg to visit her Robinson relatives at Dalebotton, St John’s in the Vale. She is said to have met future husband James (Jim) Reay at one of the fairs or country shows held at nearby Cockermouth.
At the birth of their first child, Harry, they were living ‘over the shop’ in Station Street. Subsequent children were born at Portinscale, to the west of Keswick, where ‘Jim’ was working for Birketts, the blacksmiths.
By 1911, Annie-Mary, Jim and the earlier children, had moved to Scotforth, Lancaster, intially to a terraced house on Hala Road, after Jim had responded to an advertisment for a blacksmith. Later children were born at Hala Road, and latterly at ‘The Forge’, a cottage at the side of the smithy on Scotforth Road, opposite the Boot and Shoe hotel.
Annie-Mary and Jim continued to live at ‘The Forge’ until the late 1950’s when a claim on the property came to light, and they were forced to seek other accomodation, eventually being accomodated in a council house on the nearby ‘new’ Hala Estate, but not before doing the rounds, and staying for extended periods with several of their children, by then well established in their own comfortable family homes.
Whatever the grounds for the claim against the property, that action was short lived, as in the early 1960’s, the local authority instigated clearance of ‘The Forge’ and adjoining property on the corner of Scotforth Road, and extending into the adjacent Ashford Road.
Jim, deprived of his workshop, and a place to ‘tinker’, died in 1962. Annie-Mary, a staunch supporter of ‘Craven-A’ cigarettes, never ailing, until her passing at a Silverdale (Lancashire) care home in 1974 at the age 89.
(g) James Harold Dent, born 1880 at Banks Court, Keswick. James took up an apprenticeship as a shoemaker. His job, possibly delivering to customers, frequently took him “ower ‘t rise” (over Dunmail Rise). He married Diana Francis Robinson from Dale Bottom, St John’s in the Vale on the 1st May 1912. Diana had been ‘in service’ in Keswick for a couple of years, latterly at the home of Dr Burnett in Penrith Road. They appear to have lived at his parents house for the first few years of the marriage. Children, Edna Francis Dent, and Hilda Barton Dent were born in 1912 and 1913 respectively.
In 1914, Harold joined the territorials at Keswick; the 4th Border Regiment. In 1916 he signed up, becoming Pte 223494 in the Mechanical Transport section 0f the Army Service Corps. His army service record indicates that he served in the ‘Army of the Black Sea’, at Salonika. (Ancestry: Attestation Records, WO363.) In 1917, his wife Diana died of TB aged only 29 years. (Death Cert, DAR.) Harold was given 21 days leave to return to England, a very uncommon temporary release from that area of the war.
However, he survived the war to return to the UK, all interest in shoemaking gone; it was ‘cars’ and motoring for Harold.
He worked for many years for ‘Quirks’ Garage in Main St, Keswick. One of his enjoyments was taking out customers cars for a test run after any repairs. Hilda Barton Teasdale
In 1928, Harold married Ellen Mary Smith who hailed from a Lowestoft fishing family. How she and Harold met is a mystery to me, but she apparently integrated well into Keswick life, joining the prestigeous Fell and Rock Climbing Club. “Mrs Dent climbed Gable every year to lay a wreath on behalf of the Borrowdale men who died in both world wars, and fifty years ago she wrote a poem to the Armistice Day which was published in the “P.U.P’s” magazine. (Carol Laithwaite Nov 07) It is believed that Helen instigated the Fell and Rock Climbing Club’s memorial, affixed on the summit of Great Gable, now attended by large groups of climbers annually on Remembrance Sunday. (Keswick Reminder, 1984)
Sadly, Harold died in 1933, like his first wife Diana, of TB, aged 43 years. His second wife Ellen lived on, latterley at ‘Four Oaks’ at Lodore in Borrowdale, where she died in 1978.
(h) Jessie Dent, the last of the children of James and Elizabeth, was born 13 November 1891 at Keswick. She lived, up to the time of her marriage, at the family home in Banks Court off Station Street. On the 1911 Census she is described as a Dressmaker. On the 5th March 1913, she married William Hinds Forrester at Crosthwaite Church.
Willy, born in May 1886 at Keswick, was a coachman, carrying passengers to and from Keswick Railway Station, and later, an estate worker on the Lingholm Estate of Lord Rochdale.
At some stage, Willy had signed up as Private 14438 in the 8th Battalion of the Border Regiment, sometime prior to 1915, and appears to have done some training at Southend on Sea.
He was listed as ‘wounded’ on the 9th September 1915, by then attached to the 2nd Battalion. On the 20th July 1918, the War Office Daily List 5623 has Lance Corporal 14438 Forrester listed as ‘missing’.
Further correspondence, held in the National Archives at Kew, has Willy as ‘Released P.O.W. from Germany, arrived in England’, 21st December 1918. This is shown in the Penrith Observer of Monday 23rd December 1918 under ‘Local War Notes.’
I have not so far established where Willy served, but family lore has it that he was a P.O.W. in ‘Russian Poland’.
Jessie and Willy had children, Elizabeth (Betty) Forrester born 14th September 1913; a son Joseph Forrester born in 1920, who sadly died in infancy.
In January 1923, Jean Forrester was born, followed in October 1925 by Muriel Forrester. Muriel hated the name, and was always known as Pat.
Upon my first visit to their home on “The Headlands” at Keswick with my parents, Jessie was bed ridden. She died in 1949 at daughter Betty’s then home at Pooley Bridge. On subsequent visits to Keswick, it never having been explained to me who these people were, my only reference was Willy’s pigeon loft, and all the accutrements that went with pigeon racing; henceforth he was Uncle Willy Pigeon! He died in 1965, and both he and Jessie lie in St John’s Church graveyard, Keswick.
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