Artist and officer in Royal Marines Light Infantry. Son of Colonel William Henry Bent, Royal Artillery, he was born Woolwich ca 1833 (he was aged 54 at death). Joined the Royal Navy Marines in 1854 becoming a Captain. Served aboard HMS Ajax, (1854) in the Baltic, HMS Horatio, in the Mediterranean (1855) and HMS Iris in the Pacific (1857-1861). Bent was based in Sydney, but visited Wellington, New Plymouth, (where he held Fort Niger under Colonel Gold in 1860 during the first Taranaki War), the Bay of Islands (around Christmas 1857) and Auckland and Coromandel in early 1858. Also visited the Pacific, including Norfolk Island in September 1857, and fought in Vanuatu. In 1862 he married Ellen Webster Rodd (born Bathurst, NSW in 1840). She died, in Greenwich, on 22 Jan 1864. Discharged in 1864, on half-pay for reasons of ill-health. He remarried in 1868 to Esther Ellen Southcomb, who died in 1882. Was Chief Constable, Exter, Devon, 1873-1885. Died St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London .
Bent, Thomas, 1833?-1887
Bent, Thomas, 1833?-1887 :[Fifteen watercolours mainly of Pacific views. 1857-1858].
Date: 1857 - 1858
By: Bent, Thomas, 1833?-1887
Reference: A-282-019/033
Description: Includes: The Rapids, Annitrum River; Entrance to Havannah Harbour, Vate (Efate, Vanuatu); Aneiteum; Havannah Harbour, Island of Vate, July 10th 1858; Eromang-Dillons Bay, July 8 1858; mount Pitt, Norfolk Island from Cascade Road, June 7 1858; Papua New Guinea; Caledonia; Guasopa, Woodbark Island, Papua New Guinea. Numerical inscription were made by an Auckland conservator in 1999. Quantity: 15 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolours, sizes varying.
Bent, Thomas, 1832 or 1833-1887 :Taurarua, Judges Bay Auckland / T.B. Nov. 28 1860.
Date: 1860
From: Gold, Charles Emilius 1809-1871 :Sketches by General Gold, 1846 to 1860
By: Bent, Thomas, 1833?-1887; Gold, Charles Emilius, 1809-1871
Reference: A-288-035
Description: A view from the water, Judges Bay, Auckland, looking past a schooner and up the cliffs at the water's edge to the church (St Stephen's Chapel), the house of Judge William Martin and other houses. Fort Britomart is on the cliff-top to the right Identity of the artist with initials T. B. shown to be Thomas Bent from comparison with an identical view in a private collection and with the Pacific watercolours held by the Library. A fellow-officer of Gold's, in whose sketchbook this drawing was adhered. The two men fought together in Taranaki. There is a pencil drawing on the verso that may be the work of Gold or of Bent. It shows a train crossing a railway bridge by a bay ringed with hills, with churches and houses sketched in on the left. It is not an identifiable New Zealand scene. Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - T. B. Nov 28 1860 [in brushpoint]; Recto - bottom right - Taurarua. Judges Bay. Auckland [in brushpoint] Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour 176 x 251 mm Provenance: Family descent, to London dealer (1991) to Auckland dealer (1991)
Moresby, Matthew Fortescue, 1828-1918: Photographs of Rio de Janiero, Norfolk Island, V...
Date: 1857-1859
By: Bent, Thomas, 1833?-1887; Moresby, Matthew Fortescue, 1828-1918
Reference: PA1-f-217
Description: The photographs of Greece and Mount Etna were taken by Georges Wilson Bridges Album belonged to Thomas Bent, Lieutenant in the Royal Marines Light Infantry aboard HMS Iris. Quantity: 1 album(s).