The Papers of Clinton Thomas Dent

Scope and Content

Dent's Personal Papers consist of:

  • "The Ascent of Tsiteli" - a Paper by C.T. Dent, read before the Alpine Club, June 1898.
  • Manuscript Chapters on Climbing in the Caucasus.

Administrative / Biographical History

Clinton Thomas Dent was born in 1850 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He trained as a surgeon becoming Senior Surgeon at the St George's Hospital Medical School, London, Consulting Surgeon at the Belgrave Hospital for Children, Chief Surgeon to the Metropolitan Police from 1904, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. However he also had a love of mountaineering and was one of the few British climbers to attempt the unclimbed peaks in the Alps including the Aiguille du Dru (3,754 m), a steep granite peak in the Mont Blanc massif.
With British alpinists such as Albert Mummery, A. W. Moore and D. W. Freshfield, Dent was involved in the pioneering of climbing in the Caucasus, where he made the first ascent of Gestola (4,860 m) with W. F. Donkin in 1886. He was President of the Alpine Club from 1886-1889.
Dent died in 1912 from a virulent septicaemia.

Arrangement

Two Files were created of the material thus:

  • CTD/1 - The Ascent of Tsiteli
  • CTD/2 - Manuscript: Climbing in Caucasus

Access Information

Open. Please contact the archivist using the email address given here. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

Acquisition Information

It is unknown how these Papers came to be in the Society's Collections.

Archivist's Note

The Papers were catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2018.

Conditions Governing Use

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

Custodial History

The provenance of this material is unknown. Presumably it belonged to the author and was deposited with the Society at some point after 1898.