▶Date of birth:  26 July 1823        Place of birth:  Islington, Middlesex

▶Father: John Bentley, of Park Crescent, Brighton, Secretary to the Bank of England    Mother: Mary Breen

▶Spouse(s): (1) Rosamund Harriet, youngest daughter of Rear-Admiral Clowes, of Bath Villa, Maidenhead; (2) Fanny, youngest daughter of Andrew Baden, of Highbury Hill   Date(s) of marriage: (1) 10 January 1854; (2) 27 October 1864      Place(s) of marriage: (1) Cookham, Berkshire; (2) Christ Church, Islington, Middlesex

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Anglican)

▶Lifestory: Bentley was the son of John Bentley, of Park Crescent, Brighton, Secretary to the Bank of England, and his wife Mary (née Breen). He matriculated at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge in 1845, Scholar, BA 1849, MA 1852. He was ordained Deacon in 1849, and Priest (both Gloucester) in 1850. In 1849 he was appointed Curate of Baunton, in Gloucestershire, and in 1851 of Somerford Magna, Wiltshire. Between 1853 and 1860 he served as Curate of Ashton Keynes, Gloucestershire, and he married Rosamund Harriet Clowes in 1854 (they had one son and four daughter). In 1860 he was presented with the Rectory of Bridgnorth, Shropshire, where he remained until 1879.

On census night 1861, aged 37 and married, he was a visitor in the household of Stephen Demainbray at Lorraine Villa, Pittville (now 10 Pittville Crescent), when he described himself as a Perpetual Curate in Shropshire. His first wife died in 1862, and he married again, to Fanny Baden, and they had one son and one daughter. After his incumbency in Shropshire he became Vicar of Bosbury, Herefordshire 1879-97.

Amongst other works he published his Parish sermons in 1875, and a History and description of the parish of Bosbury in 1891. He was appointed Rural Dean of Frome, Southern Division 1883-92, and emerged as Rector of Newent, Gloucestershire from 1897 until his death in 1908 at Torquay, at the age of eighty-four.

▶Moved to Pittville from: Bridgnorth, Shropshire  Moved from Pittville to: Bridgnorth, Shropshire (visitor)

▶Date of death:  3 January 1908    Place of death: Torquay, Devon

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial:

▶Notes:        ID: 7528

Contributor(s):  John Simpson