Ernest Martin Dence (17 February 1873 - 24 January 1937) was a marine engineer and local politician in the Greenwich area.
Born in Islington, he was educated in Lincolnshire and at Dulwich College. He spent some years working for various shipping lines, travelling around the world. He later worked on land manufacturing electrical cables before retiring in 1919.
He entered politics in 1918 when he was co-opted onto Greenwich Borough Council during the First World War. At the next municipal elections in 1919 he was elected to the council, and re-elected in 1922. He was Mayor of Greenwich in 1922-23.
In 1919 he was elected to the London County Council as one of the representatives of Greenwich, sitting on the majority Municipal Reform Party benches. He was re-elected four times, and was vice chairman of the council in 1931-32 and chairman in 1933-34. While chairman of the council he laid the foundation stone for the new buildings of the University of London in Bloomsbury, and was presented with an honorary degree of LLD by the university.
At the 1934 county council election he lost his seat as the Labour Party took control of the council. In 1935 he returned to the council as an alderman, holding the post at his death.
A keen amateur astronomer, he constructed an observatory in the garden of his Blackheath home.
References[]
- "Obituary:Alderman Dence". The Times: p. 14. 25 January 1937.
Painting here.