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Digby Dent (Royal Navy officer, born 1713)

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For other Royal Navy officers names Digby Dent, see Digby Dent.
Digby Dent
Commodore Digby Dent by Nathaniel Dance-Holland
Born17 January 1713
Died5 June 1761
Allegiance Kingdom of Great Britain
Service / branch Royal Navy
RankCaptain
CommandsHMS Kinsale
HMS Hampton Court
Jamaica Station
HMS Queenborough
Battles / warsWar of Jenkins' Ear
Third Carnatic War

Captain Digby Dent (17 January 1713 – 5 June 1761) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station.

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Born 17 January 1713 and baptised 4 February 1713 at St Nicholas Chiswick Middlesex,[1] the son of Captain Digby Dent and his wife Ursula. Dent joined the Royal Navy on 20 October 1726 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in January 1734. In August 1737 he was given command of the small 8-gunner HMS Drake.[2]

He was promoted to post captain on 9 June 1738 on appointment to the command of the fifth-rate HMS Kinsale.[2] He transferred to the command of the third-rate HMS Hampton Court in 1739 and saw action in operations against Santiago de Cuba during the War of Jenkins' Ear.[2] After several short commands he became captain of HMS Plymouth a 60-gunner which was involved in a large battle with the French fleet on 3 August 1746 near Jamaica which was part of the War of Austrian Succession.[2]

He was appointed a commodore, and became Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station in 1747.[3] In March 1747 he became overall Commander of the British Fleet in the West Indies and oversaw the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.[2] He was court-martialled im 1749 over his choices in the 1741 Battle of Santiago de Cuba but found not guilty.[2][4]

He was appointed Comptroller of the Navy in 1756.[5]

He died at his house in Dover Street St George Hanover Square on 5 June 1761.[2][6]

Family

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On 28 June 1731, aged 18, Dent, of St George Hanover Square, married Mary Tredway Rule at St Katherine by the Tower by licence.[7] His second marriage took place in September 1750 when he married 17-year-old Sophia Pitt Drake at St Mary's Church in Twickenham[8] Following Dent's death Sophia married Admiral George Pocock who was a long-term friend of her father.[9] His brother Captain Cotton Dent RN was father to Sir Digby Dent.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Image 35/237; Film Number 008008452". Family Search.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Digby Dent (1710–1761)". threedecks.org.
  3. ^ Cundall, p. xx
  4. ^ 1749 Derby Mercury 2 March
  5. ^ Clowes, William (1898). "The royal navy: a history from the earliest times to the present". Sampson Low Marston. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  6. ^ 1761 Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal 10 June
  7. ^ London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921
  8. ^ "Commodore Digby Drake". Twickenham Museum. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  9. ^ Bernard Burke (1865). Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Harrison. p. 886.
  10. ^ "Sir Digby Dent". More than Nelson. Retrieved 8 March 2021.

Sources

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Military offices
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station
1747 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Comptroller of the Navy
1756 		Succeeded by
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