Mr. James Trent, who has been well known in commercial circles in Canterbury for about thirty years as an enterprising Colonist, was born on the 10th of March, 1851, at Oldford, Middlesex, England, in a page 375 house erected on the site of Bishop Bonner's palace, and was educated in London and at Scarborough. Mr. Trent was brought up to mercantile life in London, and came to Lyttelton per ship “Hydaspes” in 1869. He joined his brother, the late Mr. E. W. Trent, general merchant, in partnership in 1872, under the style of Trent Bros., and six months later purchased his brother's interest, and another brother, Mr. F. Trent, joining the firm, the partnership subsisted for fifteen years. Mr. J. Trent retired in 1887. He was married in 1878 to a daughter of Mr. A. Sowersby, of Yorkshire, England, and has two sons and one daughter.