Bent and his wife in and around the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, which from 1893 to the end of his life he made the special field for his observation and travel. By his expeditions in the winter of 1893–4 and 1894–5 he added much to European knowledge of the Hadramut country, but his attempts in 1893, 1894, and 1895 to penetrate the Mahri district were unsuccessful. In November 1896 he traversed Socotra and explored the little-known country within fifty miles of Aden. His last journey of exploration was through the Vafei and Fadhli countries in March 1897, an account of which was given by Mrs. Bent to the Royal Geographical Sosiety, and published in the 'Royal Geographical Journal' (xii. 41).
Bent died, 5 May 1897, at 13 Great Cumberland Place, London, W., from pneumonia following on malarial fever, which developed after his return from Aden, and was buried at Theydon Bois, Essex.
Though naturally inclined to the study of archæology rather than to geographical discovery, his antiquarian knowledge was insufficient to enable him to make a complete use of the opportunities which his journeys afforded. A portrait of Bent is contained in his book on 'The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland,' and a photogravure portrait is prefixed to Mrs. Bent's volume on 'Southern Arabia.'
Bent edited in 1893 a volume for the Hakluyt Society entitled 'Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant, with an Introduction giving a History of the Levant Company of Turkey Merchants,' and he contributed many articles to reviews and magazines. 'Southern Arabia,' published in 1900, 8vo, though mainly written by Mrs. Bent, contains much matter derived from Bent's journals.
Bent's notebooks and numerous drawings and sketches remain in the possession of Mrs. Bent.
[Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, ix. 671; Times, 7 May 1897; Bent's works; private information.]
BENTLEY, GEORGE (1828–1895), publisher and author, born in Dorset Square, London, on 7 June 1828, was the eldest surviving son of Richard Bentley (1794–1871) [q. v.] and Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Botten. He was educated, first, at the school of the Rev. Mr. Poticary, Blackheath, where Benjamin Disraeli had been a pupil, and, secondly, at King's College, London, where he sat on the same form as Dr. Lionel Beale, At the age of seventeen he entered his father's publishing office. He served as a special constable when a fear of breaches of the peace by the Chartists existed in 1848, his beat being the same as Louis Napoleon's. The following year he was in Rome when it was forcibly occupied by the French.
From his marriage in 1853 until 1860 Bentley lived in a house in Regent's Park. He then moved to Slough and occupied a house in Upton Park. Several years later he bought land at Upton and built a house for himself. He was interested in meteorology, and he kept records and charts of the rain-fall during many years.
From 1859 onwards Bentley largely shared with his father the business of publishing; yet he found time for literary work also, writing an introduction to an edition of Maginn's 'Shakspeare Papers' and 'Rock Inscriptions of the Jews in the Peninsula of Sinai.' When his firm purchased 'Temple Bar Magazine' in 1866 he became its editor, holding that office till death and writing several papers for it, which he collected and printed for private circulation. After his father's death in 1871, he had a very arduous task, as the resources of the firm had been crippled owing to a decision of the House of Lords denying copyright in England to works by American authors, to the commercial failure of 'Bentley's Quarterly,' and of a newspaper called 'Young England,' and to a heavy loss on the complete edition of Horace Walpole's 'Letters,' which Peter Cunningham edited. However, Bentley, by his energy, perseverance, and tact, eventually placed the business on a more solid basis, with the result of reaping great pecuniary gain. Under his guidance the firm greatly improved its position both in the trade and in public estimation. The office of publisher in ordinary to her majesty, which his father had enjoyed, was continued to him and to his son.
In 1872, Bentley achieved an extraordinary publishing feat of printing. Two copies of the American case concerning the 'Alabama Claims' had been delivered in London — the one to the government, the other to Bentley & Son. The documents filled a large quarto of five hundred pages, and among them were many coloured maps. 'In seventy-two hours afterwards, by the diligence of the Chiswick Press, a facsimile reprint was published [by Bentley] in this country, many days in advance of the government issue' (Leaves from the Past, privately printed in 1896, p. 109). Reference to this prompt action was made by Gladstone, then prime minister, in the House of Commons.
The record of Bentley's life is chiefly a list of the books which he published, the majority consisting of works of fiction, travel, history, and biography. He prided himself
