Collector · Heir · Donor

Benjamin Kent

1885–1968 · United Kingdom

Farmer. Lived at Tatefield Hall, Beckwithshaw, near Harrogate. Child of Bramley Kent.

Life and work

1924
Inherited the family collection and the antiquarian interest on the death of his father Bramley Kent; the collection was begun by his grandfather James Kent (1817-1894) with a Roman lamp from Aldborough.
BeckwithshawReeve & Waite 2020, p. 2 Reeve 2021
1940
Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London for excavation work among barrows in the West Riding and on Roman sites.
Reeve & Waite 2020, p. 2
December 1968
Bequeathed the majority of the Kent collection (nearly 1,000 objects, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, prehistoric and medieval antiquities formed by father and son) to Harrogate Corporation, on conditions: display 'from time to time' in suitable cases accessible to the public, to be called 'The Kent Collection'; failing acceptance it would pass to Leeds University. Arms and armour to be sold at Sotheby's.
HarrogateReeve & Waite 2020, p. 5
January 1969
Harrogate Council's acceptance announced, conditional on Treasury waiving estate duty (agreed by August 1969); the council valued the collection at about GBP 40,000 and some councillors dismissed much of it as 'junk'.
HarrogateReeve & Waite 2020, p. 6

2 people

Kent collection: c. 150 ancient Cypriot objects, including T. B. Sandwith pieces shown at the 1875 Yorkshire Exhibition (one obtained indirectly from William Cudworth); a few small Cypriot pieces keep price labels of 5s. (terracotta figurine) to 15s. (Bronze Age ladle)
Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate1968–1969Reeve 2021 Reeve & Waite 2020, p. 3