Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Great War A.R.R.C., Dame of Justice of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem group of four awarded to Lady Superintendent-in-Chief Mrs. Beatrice H. Dent, The Most Venerable Order of Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and St. John Ambulance Brigade

Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.V.R., silver and enamel, on lady’s bow ribbon; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Dame of Justice, gold and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, on lady’s bow riband; Coronation 1911, Police Ambulance Service (Beatrice Dent.); Service Medal of the Order of St John, silver (Mrs. Lancelot Dent A.R.R.C. For Conspicuous Service 1927.) good very fine and better (4) £500-£700

A.R.R.C. London Gazette 23 February 1917.

Beatrice Holdsworth Dent (née Dimsdale) was born in Kensington on 19 July 1878, the daughter of Joseph Cockfield Dimsdale. A banker by profession, her father would later serve as Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1901 and Member of Parliament for the City of London from 1900 to 1906, becoming 1st Baronet Dimsdale on 24 July 1902.

In 1899, Beatrice married underwriter Lancelot Wilkinson Dent. The couple soon became parents to a daughter and Beatrice began to focus more upon her work with The Order of St John of Jerusalem and St John Ambulance Brigade. Appointed Commandant and awarded the A.R.R.C., she was decorated by the King at an investiture held in Buckingham Palace on 25 April 1917. Raised Lady Superintendent-in-Chief of the St John Ambulance Brigade Overseas, she left England in 1927 for a tour of inspection of India. For this work and other conspicuous service she was raised Dame of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in the London Gazette of 3 January 1928. Relocating to Oxfordshire, she is recorded in 1939 as a member of staff of the Women’s Voluntary Service. She died on 30 September 1967 in Eastbourne.