Clinton Thomas Dent
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Clinton Thomas Dent
FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional certification, professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an wikt:intercollegiate, ...
(7 December 1850 – 26 August 1912) was an English surgeon, author and
mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...
.


Early life

The fourth surviving son of Thomas Dent, he was educated at
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
and
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...
.


Alpinism

Alongside Albert Mummery, Dent was one of the most prominent of the British climbers who attempted the few remaining unclimbed mountains in the
Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...
in the period known as the silver age of alpinism. As an alpinist, Dent was very different from Mummery: Dent's first ascents in the Alps include the Lenzspitze (4,294 m) in the
Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (, , , ), sometimes referred to as the Valais Alps (which are just the Northern Swiss part of the Pennine Alps), are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Italy (the Aosta Valley and Piedmont) an ...
in August 1870, with
Alexander Burgener Alexander Burgener Alexander Burgener (10 January 1845, Saas Fee – 8 July 1910, near the Berglihütte) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many mountains and new routes in the western Alps during the silver age of alpini ...
and a porter, Franz Burgener (of whom Dent wrote 'his conversational powers were limited by an odd practice of carrying heavy parcels in his mouth'), and the Portjengrat (Pizzo d'Andollo, 3,654 m) above the valley of Saas-Fee in 1871. On 5 September 1872 the combined parties of Dent and guide Alexander Burgener, with George Augustus Passingham, and his guides Ferdinand Imseng and Franz Andermatten, made the first ascent of the south-east ridge of the
Zinalrothorn The Zinalrothorn at is a mountain in the Pennine Alps, Pennine Swiss Alps, Alps in Switzerland. Its name comes from the village of Zinal lying on the north side and from the German word ''Rothorn'' which means ''Red Peak''. When it was first cli ...
(4,221 m); this is the current ''voie normale'' on the mountain. He then turned his attention to the
Aiguille du Dru The Aiguille du Dru (also the Dru or the Drus; French, Les Drus) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It is situated to the east of the village of Les Praz in the Chamonix valley. "Aiguille" means "needle" in French. The ...
(3,754 m), a steep
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
peak in the Mont Blanc massif that had been ignored by the early generation of alpinists whose ambitions had been focused more on the higher mountains. After eighteen failed attempts with a number of different guides and companions (during which he used ladders to overcome difficulties), Dent at last made the first ascent of the ''Grande Aiguille du Dru'' (the higher of the mountain's two summits) on 12 September 1878, with James Walker Hartley and the guides Alexander Burgener and Kaspar Maurer. He wrote of the Dru: Together with British alpinists such as Mummery, A. W. Moore and D. W. Freshfield, Dent was involved in the pioneering of climbing in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
, where he made the first ascent of Gestola (4,860 m) with W. F. Donkin in 1886. Writing in the ''Alpine Journal'' a year later, Dent strongly encouraged the members of the
Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...
(of which he was President from 1886 to 1889DENT, Clinton Thomas
in Who Was Who 1897–2006 online at Credo Reference (accessed 7 January 2008)
) to travel to the region: Dent may have been the first person to have written – in his book ''Above the Snow Line'' (1885) – that an ascent of
Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...
was possible. According to Geoffrey Winthrop Young, 'He has often been quoted as saying that the Alps were exhausted as far back as the 1880s, and he once wrote me a friendly warning not to attempt new Alpine ways, "since there is really nothing left worth risking much for"'. He also took part in the establishment of the Alpine distress signal in 1894.Dumler and Burkhardt, p. 63 In Who's Who 1912, Dent gave his recreations as "mountaineering and travel, or any form of hard exercise; art collecting; photography".


Medical career

Dent was a well-known Senior Surgeon at the St George's Hospital medical school, London, Consulting Surgeon at the
Belgrave Hospital for Children The Belgrave Hospital for Children in Kennington, London, United Kingdom was a voluntary hospital founded in Pimlico, London in 1866. A new hospital building was constructed between 1899 and 1926 at 1 Clapham Road#London, Clapham Road from a desi ...
, Chief Surgeon of the Metropolitan Police from 1904, and a Fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...
. The
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
awarded him the honorary degree of MCh. He wrote extensively, and his publications include studies of post-surgical insanity and heart surgery, and an account of the wounded in the Transvaal War, to which he had been posted as a correspondent for the ''
British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world ...
''. He also had a special interest in
dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the Human skin, skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A List of dermatologists, ...
.


Death

Dent died at the age of 61 after a 'mysterious attack of blood poisoning' and is buried at
Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...
. There is a memorial tablet to him on the Britannia Hut above Saas-Fee.


Publications

*Dent, Clinton Thomas, 'The Ascent of Gestola', in ''On the Edge of Europe: Mountaineering in the Caucasus'', ed. Audrey Salkeld, Mountaineers Books, 1994, *Dent, Clinton Thomas, ''Above The Snow Line: Mountaineering Sketches Between 1870 And 1880'', Kessinger Publishing, 2007, *Dent, Clinton Thomas, ''Mountaineering'', London: Longmans, Green, 1892. 2nd edition (pp. xx + 439, with 2 pages of advertisements, 13 plates and illustrations in text by H. G. Willink and others, with contributions by W. M. Conway, D. W. Freshfield, C. E. Mathews, C. Pilkington, F. Pollock). Republished by Kessinger Publishing, 2007, *Dent, Clinton Thomas and Christian Albert Theodor Billroth, ''Clinical Surgery. Extracts from the reports of surgical practice between the years 1860–1876'', translated and edited, with annotations, by C. T. Dent and C. A. T. Billroth, New Sydenham Society, vol. 94


References


Bibliography

*Dumler, Helmut and Burkhardt, Willi P. (1994) ''The High Mountains of the Alps''. London: Diadem. *Engel, Claire (1971) ''Mountaineering in the Alps'', London: George Allen and Unwin


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dent, Clinton Thomas 1850 births 1912 deaths Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge category:Chief Surgeons of the Metropolitan Police English mountain climbers British mountain climbers 19th-century English medical doctors People educated at Eton College Presidents of the Alpine Club (UK) Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 20th-century English medical doctors 20th-century English surgeons