Dent of London (E. Dent and Co.)
The chronometer makers who built the Great Clock behind Big Ben, and the family firm that carried the name for more than 150 years.
Edward John Dent, chronometer maker
Edward John Dent was born in London in 1790, according to Grace's Guide. The British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA) dates the business to 1814, when he began producing clocks and chronometers under his own name, while Grace's Guide says he built his reputation for accurate chronometers between 1815 and 1829. In 1829 he devised a mechanism that reduced chronometer errors caused by temperature changes, and Grace's Guide says both the Admiralty and the East India Company sought his work.
From 1830 to 1840 he worked in partnership with John Roger Arnold as Arnold and Dent. BADA notes that when HMS Beagle sailed in 1831, Captain FitzRoy took several chronometers, including Dent No. 633. After the partnership ended, Dent traded under his own name and, BADA says, received a royal warrant as watch and clockmaker to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1841.
The Royal Exchange and the Great Clock
Astronomer Royal George Airy recommended Dent for the new Royal Exchange clock in 1843, and BADA says Airy praised the finished clock, completed in 1844, in the highest terms.
Airy also backed Dent for the clock in the new Palace of Westminster. The UK Parliament's history says the designs by Edmund Beckett Denison, a lawyer and amateur horologist, were approved in February 1852 and Dent was appointed to build the clock, which had to strike the hour to within one second. Grace's Guide says Dent died on March 8, 1853, and that his stepson Frederick Dent completed the clock in 1854.
The clock was installed in April 1859 and began keeping time on May 31, 1859, according to Parliament. BADA adds that a Dent turret clock won the only Council Medal for horology at the 1851 Great Exhibition and later went to King's Cross Station, where it stayed until 1965.
See also: the dates Britain moves its clocks forward and back on OnlineClock.app.
How to identify a Dent clock or chronometer
Look for the name and address. Grace's Guide lists the firm at 61 Strand and 34 and 35 Royal Exchange in 1864, at 4 Royal Exchange in 1916, on Cockspur Street in 1921 and on Pall Mall in 1936, so an address on a dial or movement can help narrow its date.
The Dent Triangle trademark was registered in 1876. Chronometers carry serial numbers, such as the No. 633 taken aboard the Beagle. Be aware that a second Dent business, M. F. Dent and Co., also existed and was absorbed into E. Dent and Co. Ltd in 1920.
Royal warrants are another clue. BADA says the firm held British royal warrants from Queen Victoria's reign through George V's, warrants from Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia, and from 1880 one from Japan's Emperor Meiji.
What became of Dent
After Frederick Dent died in 1860, his mother Elizabeth kept the business going with help from her sons-in-law, and after her death the firm was controlled by the Buckney and Gardner families. Thomas Buckney became superintendent of manufacturing in 1864 and a partner in 1872, and from 1884 he ran the firm under the E. Dent and Co. name. Grace's Guide says it became a limited company in 1897, checked and repaired watches for the Royal Air Force after World War II, and from the 1950s made specialized clocks on commission. In 1975 it became a subsidiary of Toye and Co.
In 2006, Grace's Guide records, Dent was commissioned to build a new platform clock for the refurbished St Pancras Station. We could not confirm the current corporate status of the historic E. Dent and Co. More than one modern business uses the Dent name. One of them, the watch company Dent London 1814, describes itself as an independent British watch company reviving the name of Edward John Dent, and states that it is not affiliated with the Palace of Westminster and is independent of any other company trading under the Dent name. It also says it did not build the current St Pancras station clock.
See also: other famous names in watchmaking on OnlineClock.app.
Questions people ask
Did Dent make Big Ben?
Dent built the Great Clock in the Elizabeth Tower, which strikes the bell called Big Ben. Edward John Dent won the contract in 1852, and his stepson Frederick finished the clock in 1854.
How do I tell how old my Dent clock is?
Check the address and any serial number. Strand and Royal Exchange addresses are recorded in the 1860s, Cockspur Street in 1921 and Pall Mall in 1936. The Dent Triangle mark dates from 1876 or later.
Is Dent still in business?
The historic firm became part of Toye and Co. in 1975 and was still taking commissions in 2006; its present status is unclear. Dent London 1814, a watch company using the name today, says it is independent of any other company trading under the Dent name.