John Dent (died 1826)

John Dent (21 August 1761 – 14 November 1826) was an English banker and politician.

Life

He was the eldest son of Robert Dent, a banker in London and Clapham.

He was a partner in Child's Bank and a Tory member of parliament for Lancaster from 1790 to 1812.{{cite web |author=William Farrer & J. Brownbill (editors) |year=1914 |title=Townships: Cockerham |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53273 |accessdate=26 September 2012 |work=A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8 |publisher=Institute of Historical Research}} He was a defeated candidate at Poole in 1812 but was returned to Parliament there in 1818 and again, unopposed, in 1822.[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/dent-john-1761-1826 historyofparliamentonline.org, Dent, John (?1761-1826), of Clapham, Surr.; Cockerham, Lancs.; and Barton Cottage, nr. Christchurch, Hants.]

Dent earned the nickname "Dog Dent" for his interest in the Dog Tax Bill of 1796.{{cite book |author=George Gordon Byron Baron Byron |url=https://archive.org/details/lordbyronselecte00byro |title=Lord Byron Selected Letters and Journals |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-674-53915-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/lordbyronselecte00byro/page/165 165] note 7 |url-access=registration |accessdate=26 September 2012}} He was also known as a book collector and a member of the Roxburghe Club.{{ODNBweb|id=21654|title=Payne, Roger|first=Mirjam M.|last=Foot}}

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1811 and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.{{cite book |last=Dent |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fjdbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1 |title=Catalogue of the. library of. John Dent |year=1827 |page=1 |accessdate=26 September 2012}}{{cite web |title=Fellow details |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=Code==%27NA3276%27&dsqCmd=Show.tcl |accessdate=21 May 2016 |publisher=Royal Society}}

He died in 1826 at his Mayfair home in London.