Lancelot Dent

Lancelot Dent was a 19th century British merchant in the Far East.

He was christened on August 4, 1799 in Crosby Ravensworth, Westmoreland, England, son of William and Jane (Wilkinson) Dent.

He had a powerful hold over some agency houses buying opium from the Calcutta auction, including Carr, Tagore & Company, managed by Bengali merchant Dwarkanath Tagore.

However, what may not be as widely known is his power in the court of Queen Victoria. It is said to be due to Dent's quiet manipulation that Tagore had repeated audiences with the queen and with a host of British dignitaries, including Prime Minister Robert Peel.

It could well be (and that requires research) that Tagore acted as Dent's emissary in London, soliciting lowering of competition in the China trade through the Crown's intervention. There is also a persistent doubt about the reason why Tagore failed to obtain a knighthood in London even though he cut a very high profile in the London society during his two stays between 1842 and 1845. One will be not far too wrong to speculate that Tagore's ascent in London was halted by Dent's chief rival, the Jardine Matheson empire. In fact it was an opium merchant close to Jardine Matheson, Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy, a Parsi from Mumbai (Bombay), who became the first Indian to be knighted, in 1842.

Dent somehow owned all of the land the Shanghai Port was built on, and all lands around it for 100 Li, including all the tenants rents, and all customs tithes due to entry into the port. Modern China's view is that this ownership was illegal.

Dent died in London on 18 November 1853.

ee also

*Anglo-Chinese relations