Edward Gent
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Edward was the son of Alfred and Louisa Elizabeth Gent (née Harrison). His father Alfred Gent was born in Staveley, Derbyshire, in 1862 (A/M/J Basford). He was the son of William and Sarah Ann Gent (née Berrisford) who were married at Alfreton General Baptist Chapel in 1851. In 1871 Alfred was living on High Street, Codnor, with his mother Sarah, head of household, and his sister Ann (10) and brother Edward (5). His mother Louisa Elizabeth Harrison was born in Bulwell in 1863 (J/F/M Nottingham). Alfred and Louisa Elizabeth (known as Elizabeth) were married at Nottingham St Mary on 14 August 1880 (J/A/S Nottingham) and had at least nine children, two of whom died in infancy: Sarah Ann b. Bulwell 1881 (J/F/M Basford); Alfred b. Bulwell 1 February 1884; Leonard b. Bulwell 1886 (J/F/M Basford) bap. Upper Langwith Derbyshire 28 November 1888; Edward b. Bulwell 12 April 1887 bap. Upper Langwith 28 November 1888; Elizabeth b. Clowne Derbyshire 1889 (J/F/M Worksop) bap. Staveley Derbyshire 5 February 1891; Harriet b. Clowne 1891 (J/F/M Worksop) bap. Staveley 5 February 1891 d. 1891 (O/N/D Worksop); Luther b. Clowne 4 May 1892 bap. Staveley 5 October 1893; Isaac b. Clowne 1894 (J/A/S Worksop) d. 1893 (J/A/S Worksop) and Lancelot b. Clowne 1895 (J/A/S Worksop) bap. Staveley 19 November 1895. Alfred (19) a coal miner and Elizabeth (18) were living at Bride Place, Bulwell, in 1881 with their daughter Sarah (under one year). Alfred's brother, Edward (15) was living with them; he was also a coal miner. The family left Nottinghamshire around 1896. At the time of Elizabeth's birth in 1889 they were living at 9 Pantele Row, Clowne, Derbyshire, and were still at the same address in February 1891 when Harriet was baptised. However, by the time of the 1891 Census a few months after Harriet's birth Alfred and Elizabeth had moved to High Peak Terrace, Clowne. They now had six children: Sarah (10), Alfred (7), Leonard (5), Edward (3), Elizabeth (2) and Harriet (under one year) who died later that year. Three children were born after 1891, Luther, Isaac (d. 1894) and Lancelot. Louisa Elizabeth died in 1897 (J/F/M Worksop) less than two years after the birth of her last child, Lancelot. Her husband Alfred was living at Ringer Lane, Clowne, in 1901 with his widowed mother, Sarah Gent (70), a domestic servant and six of his seven surviving children: Alfred a coal hewer, Leonard and Edward who were both collier horse drivers (below ground), Elizabeth, Luther (9) and Lancelot (6). The eldest child, Sarah Ann, had married Ernest Heppenstall in 1897 (A/M/J Worksop) and in 1901 was living in Clowne with Ernest, a colliery worker, and their two children, Florence May (2) and Ernest James (1) Edward joined the Royal Navy four years later in October 1905 and was not discharged until 1910 (see 'Military History'). His father Alfred probably died in 1910 (O/N/D Mansfield). Edward was discharged from the Royal Navy to the Royal Fleet Reserve in October 1910 and in 1911 he and his brother Lancelot were boarders in the household of Thomas Raybould, a miner, and his wife Annie at Ash Grove House, Stanfree, Bolsover. Edward was a miner and his brother a pony driver. Their sister Elizabeth had married Thomas's son, Albert Raybould, in 1910 (O/N/D Chesterfield) and they too were living at Ash Grove House. Edward married Caroline Thompson the following year (1912 A/M/J Chesterfield) and they lived at 3 The Grove, Adwick le Street, Doncaster. Their son Rees Edward was born on 8 September 1913 (O/N/D Doncaster) and baptised on 12 October 1913 at Adwick le Street parish church; he died the same year (O/N/D Doncaster). Caroline Gent married Richard Smith in 1918 (J/F/M Doncaster); the CWGC record gives her address as 99 Hobcroft Terrace, Carcroft, Doncaster. Of Edward's six surviving siblings: Sarah Ann and her husband Ernest Heppenstall moved from Clowne where they were living in 1901 to Mansfield where in 1911 they were living at 32 Carlton Street with their children Florence May (b. 1898), Ernest James b. 1900, Alfred b. 1901 and Mary b. 1910. Three other children had died in childhood: Joseph b. 1904 d. 1908, Louisa Elizabeth b. 1906 d. 1910 and Edward Leonard b. 1908 d. 1910. She later had Dorothy b. 1913 and Lancelot b. 1915 d. 1915. Her husband Ernest enlisted in the Sherwood Rangers (Territorial Force), in May 1912 at the age of 30 but although he volunteered on the outbreak of war he was discharged on 8 August 1914 as medically unfit. Sarah died in 1916 (J/F/M Mansfield) age 35. Alfred was living in Goldthorpe, near Rotherham, in 1911; he was a miner and a boarder in the household of the widowed Margaret Parker. He married Frances L Oscroft (b. 2 September 1891) in 1912 (A/M/J Doncaster). In 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled Alfred, a general labourer and his wife were living in Adwick le Street, Doncaster, with their children Alex (b. 10 November 1925 and Florence (b. 23 April 1933); the record of another member of the household remains closed. Alfred died in 1961 (J/F/M Don Valley). Leonard married Edith Agnes Edge in St Mary's parish church Chesterfield in 1909 (A/M/J Chesterfield). In 1911 they were living at Clowne Road, Stanfree, Chesterfield, with their daughter Ethel Louisa (under one year). Leonard may have died in 1931 (J/F/M Worksop). Elizabeth and her husband Albert Raybould (b. 26 September 1887) had at least three children: Albert b. 1911, Clifford b. 8 January 1914 and Douglas b. 4 February 1926. In 1939 Albert, who was unemployed, and Elizabeth were living in Adwick le Street, with their youngest son Douglas. Albert snr. probably died in 1961 (O/N/D Chesterfield) and Elizabeth in 1964 (O/n/D Bilston Staffordshire). At least one and perhaps all of her sons moved to Staffordshire; Clifford was living there in 1939 and his death and that of his brothers were recorded in the county. Luther was working as a coal miner/pony driver in 1911 and living in Stanfree, Chesterfield, as a boarder in the household of another miner and his wife. He married Maud Vickers (b. 13 February 1894) in 1914 (O/N/D Doncaster). In 1939 they were living in Adwick le Street with their daughter Joyce Gent (b. 23 August 1915); Luther was a colliery conveyor erector. He died in 1957 (A/M/J Don Valley). Lancelot enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry on 15 January 1913 (16689 Private) at the age of 17 years 5 months 21 days. He enrolled in Nottingham and gave his occupation as collier (clipper on). His next of kin was his brother Alfred of Goldthorpe, Doncaster. He served initially at the Recruit Depot, Deal, from 14 January to 28 October 1913 then with the Portsmouth Division until 18 January 1914 when his record is marked 'Run' [deserted]. However, Landelot served in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (15560,4680523 Private) and also in the Army Service Corps (M/352909 Private and T/281722 Private) as Albert Harrison. He served in France from 26 August 1915 and was awarded the 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. It appears from the notation on a Medal Index Card (in the name of Lancelot Gent, second card in the name of Albert Harrison) that his true identity was 'ascertained on disposal of estate' and there is a note of his death on 15 May 1933. It is likely that he was still serving in the army (KOYLI) and may have died in India.
Edward Gent joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 16 October 1905 on a short service engagement (12 years, 5 years RN and 7 years Royal Fleet Reserve). He served in the following ships and shore establishments: HMS Nelson, 6 October 1906-21 December 1905 (Stoker 2nd Class); Victory II, 7 April 19006-12 May 1906; HMS Good Hope, 13 May 1906-17 August 1907 (Stoker 1st Class 1 May 1907); Victory II, 18 August 1907-6 September 1907; Victory II, 7 September 1907-9 September 1907; HMS Argonaut, 10 September 1907-17 August 1908; HMS Ariadne, 18 August 1908-10 September 1909; Pembroke II, 11 September 1909-18 October 1909; HMS Venerable, 19 October 1909-20 September 1910; Victory II, 21 September 1910-15 October 1910. Edward transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve (Portsmouth B.3823) on 16 October 1910 on completion of his five years RN service. He was mobilized in July 1914 and served in the following ships and shore establishments: HMS Good Hope, 13 July 1914-24 July 1914 (Stoker 1st Class); Victory 2, 25 July 1914-30 July 1914 and HMS Good Hope, 31 July 1914-1 November 1914. Edward was killed at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914 when Good Hope was lost with all hands. His service document was annotated: ‘NP2788/14. DD [Discharged Dead] 1 November 1914. Lost when HMS Good Hope was sunk in action off Chilean Coast.' His body was not recovered for burial and he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. HMS Good Hope was a Drake Class armoured cruiser built in 1901. By 1914 she was Rear Admiral Sir Christopher George Cradock’s flag ship which, along with HMS Monmouth, HMS Glasgow and the armed merchant ship Otranto of 4th Cruiser Squadron, encountered Vice Admiral von Spee’s Scharnhorst and Gneisenau forty five miles off the Chilean port of Coronel. The German ships were faster and more heavily armed than Cradock’s fleet. The sun set at 18:50 on November 1st 1914, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them. Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 19:04 when the range closed to 12,300 yards. Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst, engaged Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at Monmouth. Cradock's flagship was hit on the Scharnhorst's third salvo, when shells knocked out her forward 9.2-inch turret and set her forecastle on fire. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee's ships inflicted. By 19:23 the range was almost half of that when the battle began and the British ships bore onwards. Spee tried to open the range, fearing a torpedo attack, but the British were only 5,500 yards away at 19:35. Seven minutes later Good Hope steered for the German squadron which evaded her. Spee ordered his armoured cruisers to concentrate their fire on the British flagship which had drifted to a halt with her topsides ablaze. At 19:50 her forward magazine exploded, severing the bow, and she later sank in the darkness. Von Spee estimated that his flagship had made 35 hits on Good Hope, suffering only two hits in return that did no significant damage and failed to wound even one crewman. Good Hope was lost with all hands, over 900 men. Good Hope and Monmouth’s ship’s companies comprised mainly reservists whereas von Spee’s crews were well trained and experienced. There were just two other British ships the light cruiser HMS Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto neither of which were a threat to von Spee’s modern ships which had a greater fire-power than those of the British Squadron. The captain of Cradock’s flagship, HMS Good Hope, was Captain Philip Francklin, who came from Gonalston, Nottinghamshire (Gonalston memorial). Vice Admiral von Spee’s squadron was destroyed, and he and his two sons killed, at the Battle of the Falkland islands on 8 December 1914 (Admiral Sturdee).
Awarded Naval General Service Medal (Persian Gulf). WMR 27994. Edward is also commemorated on the Adwick le Street parish memorial, St Lawrence church, Village Street DN6 7AQ (E Gent). There is also a memorial garden with commemorative stone (erected 2014) on Village Street. CWGC: 'Son of Alfred and Louise Gent, of Bulwell, Notts'. Edward's mother Louisa Elizabeth (Harrison) was born in Bulwell and she and Alfred were living there in 1891. However, the family had moved from Nottingham to Derbyshire by about 1899. His brother Lancelot served with the Kings Own Light Infantry and the Army Service Corps during the war; he survived the war (see 'Family History').
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