John Kent (Newfoundland politician)

John Kent (1805 – September 1, 1872) was an Irish-born politician who served as the second Premier of the Newfoundland Colony.

Early life

Kent was born in County Waterford, Ireland in 1805. He arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1820 as an employee of his uncle, Patrick Morris, a successful businessman and political reformer. Kent had become well-known in St. John's in his own right by 1830 as an auctioneer. He had a close relationship with Catholic Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming, who became Kent's brother-in-law upon his marriage to Fleming's sister Johanna Fleming in 1834.

Politics

Kent was involved in the movement for electoral reform led by his uncle Patrick Morris and William Carson. When the British Colonial Office granted representative government to Newfoundland in 1832, he was elected to the first House of Assembly as a Liberal with the help of Bishop Fleming. Kent expressed dissatisfaction with the constitution of the time, believing it was "half-developed" and gave too much power to the small Council comprising the legislature's upper house.