Edith Vere Dent

Edith Vere Dent née Annesley (1863-1948) was an amateur botanist and wild flower enthusiast who is remembered as founder of the UK Wild Flower Society. She was also an organiser for the Red Cross and her work in the First World War was recognised with an OBE.

She was the daughter of the Rev. Francis Hanbury Annesley and Maria Charlotte Annesley. Born on 25 September 1863 in Limpsfield Surrey, she and the family moved to Clifford Chambers near Stratford-upon-Avon in the 1870s when her father became rector there. After leaving school she had responsibility for her youngest sister's education, and she also kept a diary where she recorded her observations of wild flowers. These two things led to her, at the age of 23, founding the Wild Flower Society which was initially an educational club for a few local children.

In 1893 she married Robert Wilkinson Dent at a "large and fashionable wedding". Their life together started in Tunbridge Wells but in 1903 they moved to Flass, a substantial country house near Shap which had belonged to previous generations of the Dent family. There they were prominent members of the local gentry and took on a number of leadership roles in the area. Edith Dent was president of the Westmorland Red Cross and founding president of Crosby Ravensworth Women's Institute. She “took a large share” in "all the leading Westmorland activities" according to her friend and obituarist Gertrude Foggitt.

Edith Dent had six children. Two of her four sons were killed in the First World War and she wore black ever after. Her daughter Hilda Dent served as president of the Wild Flower Society after her mother's death on 12 October 1948. Hilda’s older sister Violet Schwerdt took over in 1956. She continued the work into her 90s "creating a unique family record stretching well over 100 years".

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