Clinton Thomas Dent was born in 1850 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He trained as a surgeon becoming Senior Surgeon at the St George's Hospital Medical School, London, Consulting Surgeon at the Belgrave Hospital for Children, Chief Surgeon to the Metropolitan Police from 1904, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. However he also had a love of mountaineering and was one of the few British climbers to attempt the unclimbed peaks in the Alps including the Aiguille du Dru (3,754 m), a steep granite peak in the Mont Blanc massif.
With British alpinists such as Albert Mummery, A. W. Moore and D. W. Freshfield, Dent was involved in the pioneering of climbing in the Caucasus, where he made the first ascent of Gestola (4,860 m) with W. F. Donkin in 1886. He was President of the Alpine Club from 1886-1889.
Dent died in 1912 from a virulent septicaemia.
Dr. Dennis John Duncanson (sometimes referred to as John Dennis Duncanson) (26 May 1917 - 15 April 1998) was a British Overseas Civil Servant and academic who specialised in Asian studies. Duncanson had extensive experience of the Indian Ocean area, from East Africa to China. After joining the Colonial Service, Duncanson became aide-de-camp to the Governor of Hong Kong, and subsequently joined the administration in what was then Malaya. In 1961, Duncanson was invited to join the British Advisory Mission in Saigon and worked as Counsellor in Aid at the British Embassy in Saigon during the mid-sixties, being later awarded an OBE.
On returning to England, Duncanson joined the staff of the University of Kent at Canterbury, where he became Reader, and set up the Centre for South-East Asian Studies. His book, Government and Revolution in Vietnam was written whilst the Vietnam War was still in progress, and found its place as recommended reading in politics and government at several universities.
In 1969, Duncanson was elected to the Council at the Royal Asiatic Society, and in 1977 became its Director. He was President in 1982-5, and served another two terms as Director in 1986-9 and 1992-5. He died in 1998 at Osborne House in the Isle of Wight.