Transcript

of

Francis Brent [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol. XXXVI, (1904), p. 33.

by

J. Brooking-Rowe (Ed.).

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1904 Teignmouth meeting. The British Museum website asserts that Francis Brent was born in Surrey in 1816. He moved to Plymouth in 1860 and remained there until his death in 1903. His main interest was archaeology, particularly the archaeology of ancient Dartmoor. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. British Museum records include the Brent Collection of artefacts registered in 1887 and 1903, and a bequeathed collection of Prehistoric and Ethnographic material, also in 1903. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Francis Brent. Francis Brent was an old member, having been elected in 1872, and he was a frequent attendant at our meetings. He was the son of a well-known Kentish antiquary, the late John Brent, of Canterbury. Francis Brent belonged to H.M. Customs, and came to Plymouth in 1860, and immediately identified himself with the scientific work of the town, becoming an active member of the Plymouth Institution, of which he was at sometime secretary. He was chiefly interested in Anthropology and Botany, and made large collections, and he was the first to direct attention to the presence of flint implements on Dartmoor and elsewhere. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Many have benefited by his knowledge and experience, which were always at the service of enquirers. He died on the 11th August, 1903, at 6.p.m, at the Avenue, Plymouth, and was buried on the 16th day following at the Plymouth Cemetery. The British Museum had the first choice from his anthropological collections, and made its selection; portions went to the Plymouth Municipal Museum, and his botanical collections into the Museum of the Plymouth Institution.