Constituency Dates
Devizes 1597, 1621, 1624
Family and Education
b. c. 1559, o.s. of Roger Kent of Copenhall, Cheshire, by Petronelle Hawkins. educ. Barnard’s Inn c.1586. m. Maria, da. of Thomas Wiatt of Calne, 3s. (1 d.v.p.) 1da.
Offices Held

Servant of the Earl of Hertford.

Town clerk, Devizes from c. 1592, chamberlain 1591 – 92, coroner 1592, mayor 1602 – 03; clerk of the peace, Wilts. 1597–1626.

Address
Main residence: Devizes, Wilts.
biography text

Kent made no recorded contribution to the business of the House of Commons in 1597, unless he was the John ‘Hunt’ appointed on 20 Dec. 1597 to a committee or committees concerning lewd wandering persons pretending to be soldiers or mariners and/or (the text is obscure) lessees and patentees. But this may have been Sir John Hart. Kent died 1 Oct. 1630, aged 71, and was buried in St. John’s church, Devizes. His will was proved 16 Feb. 1631.1Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 105; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xv), 299; Lansd. 47, f. 118; B. H. Cunnington, Annals Devizes, passim; Wilts. Arch. Mag. ii. 232; xxxvi. 263-72; E. Stephens, Clerks of the Counties, 178; D’Ewes, 575; PCC 27 St. John.

Author
R.C.G.
Volume
Commons 1558-1603
Notes
  • 1. Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 105; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xv), 299; Lansd. 47, f. 118; B. H. Cunnington, Annals Devizes, passim; Wilts. Arch. Mag. ii. 232; xxxvi. 263-72; E. Stephens, Clerks of the Counties, 178; D’Ewes, 575; PCC 27 St. John.