For almost 200 years there had been a doctor resident in Bow. I was the twenty-ninth.
This is our story
THE MEDICAL GENTLEMEN OF BOW
Family of Rev George Bent (1741-1814) of Sandford
Rev George Bent's children shared a substantial legacy on the death of a distant relation Mary Granger (nee Roberts) in 1846. Her late husband Edmund Granger (1755-1840) had been a prosperous wool merchant in Exeter, and she had herself inherited Wexham House near Slough from her brother Lieut General George Roberts of the Honorable East India Company on his death in 1831.
1. Children by his first wife, Mary Milton (d. 1784):
(Mary Milton was an aunt of the author Frances Trollope whose son Anthony Trollope based the character "Aunt Stanbury" in "He Knew He Was Right" on her daughter, Frances (Fanny) Bent (1779-1860).)
a) George Bent, his eldest son, b 1781. Died 1801, aged 20 in Jamaica of Yellow Fever whilst serving as a captain in the 60th Regiment of Foot.
b) John Bent, b 1782. Major in the 5th (Northumberland) Regiment of Foot. Served in the West Indies in 1820s. Married Elizabeth Paul, daughter of Robert Paul, for many years Acting Governor of St Vincent, where she was born. John Bent lived in Wexham House, near Slough, and later inherited it from Mary Granger on her death in 1846. He moved back to Exeter in 1859, where he died aged 91 in 1873.
His son, Lieutenant William Roberts Bent died in the Bighi Naval Hosptital in Malta. There is a plaque in Sandford Church in his memory.
2. Children by his second wife Hannah nee Honeycombe (1754-1794), widow of Thomas Marsh.
a) Rev Hugh Bent (1786 - 1836) - his successor at Sandford Church. He too married twice and had four daughters.
(His second daughter married William Deans, a surgeon in Sandford; their daughter Effie Louisa married George Taylor Llewellin, Vicar of Sandford for almost 50 years until his death in 1933.)
b) Colonel William Henry Bent (1790-1855) of the Royal Horse Artillery. He served in The Peninsular War 1811-1813 and was severely wounded at San Muñoz. He married Charlotte Wilkins Remington in 1814. He retired to Heavitree, Exeter.
They had about 11 Children, including:
John, and William Henry Bent, both doctors.
Hugh Bent (1826-1875) Colonel in Royal Artillery, served in West Indies, Crimea and India. He died aged 48 in Rawalpindi, North West Provinces.
Thomas Bent (1833-1887) Captain in Royal Marines Light Infantry. In 1873 he was appointed the first Chief Constable of Exeter.
Thomas Bent's first wife was Ellen Webster Rodd (1840-1864), daughter of John Savery Rodd who had settled with his father in Bathurst, New South Wales.
In 1868 he married a second time to Esther Ellen Southcomb (1844-1882).
On 25 November 1875 whilst Thomas Bent was in London he alleged that he had his pocket picked of about six pounds late that night by Louise Felise and Charles Burnell, both French. He claimed to have followed them to their home where they were arrested.
Next morning they appeared before Marlborough Street magistrates. The girl claimed that he had asked her to have a glass of wine with her, and had then stayed in her house for an hour and a half. When she gave her evidence, the Chief Constable "... became very pallid, fell in a swoon, and had to be carried out of the court by the assistant jailer". The magistrate said that he thought the female prisoner's account more reliable and so both suspects were discharged.
Back in Exeter word soon got around and Bent was called before the Watch Committee to explain. His main defence was an alibi that he had obtained in the form of a written statement from a Mr Albert Barnes who had spent part of that evening with him. Albert Barnes's statement was sent from Toulouse as he was "on his way to Africa". But this statement satisfied the Watch Committee which entirely acquitted him of the instigations made against him.
Latterly he was accused of insobriety and resigned in 1885. (He was succeeded as Exeter's Chief Constable by Edward Showers who previously lived at Winsor House in Bow.)
c) Georgina Bent (1793 -1850). She married Stephen Shute and then lived in Liverpool. Their son Alfred commissioned the oak lectern in Sandford Church. In the form of an eagle it was crafted by the prolific Harry Hems of Exeter, and gained him a medal at the Bideford Art Exhibition in 1878.
The inscription on the bird's back reads:
"To the glory of God, and in memory of Georgina, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Bent M.A. and widow of the late Stephen Shute Esq. She died at Liverpool, 4th December, 1850"
