# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Kent, Henry

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​KENT. (Commander, 1822. f-p., 22; h-p., 25.)
Henry Kent, born at Glasgow, is youngest brother of Commander Wm. G. C. Kent, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in July, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Fortitude prison-ship at Portsmouth, Lieut.-Commander John Gourly, from which he was discharged in Aug. 1801. He re-embarked, in April, 1803, on board the Salvador del Mundo guard-ship at Plymouth, bearing the flags of Sir John Colpoys and Sir Wm. Young, under whom he continued until appointed Midshipman, in March, 1804, of the Goliath 74, Capts. Chas. Brisbane, and Robt. Barton. In Feb. 1806, after he had been intermediately employed in the Channel and off the coast of Ireland, he joined the Révolutionnaire frigate, Capt. Chas. Fielding, stationed off the coast of Spain; on his removal from which ship to a Master’s Mateship in the Hussar 38, Capt. Robt. Lloyd, he accompanied the expedition of 1807 to Copenhagen, and then proceeded to the West Indies and North America. In June, 1809, Mr. Kent was promoted, from the Swiftsure 74, flag-ship of Sir John Borlase Warren, to an Acting-Lieutenancy in the Horatio 38, Capt. Geo. Scott. He next, in Nov. 1809, and April, 1810, joined, again in the capacity of Midshipman, the Pompée 74, and Neptune 98, flag-ships of Sir Alex. Cochrane in the Leeward Islands. On 14 March, 1811, it was Mr. Kent’s fortune to be confirmed a Lieutenant in La Fantome sloop, Capt. John Lawrence. In that vessel, which was at first stationed in the North Sea and on the Spanish coast, he ultimately proceeded to the Chesapeake, where, in different attacks made upon the enemy’s works, he distinguished himself as a brave and meritorious officer. In Jan. 1814, with a degree of zeal highly creditable to him, Lieut. Kent started from Halifax as a volunteer, at the head of upwards of 100 officers, seamen, and marines, for the purpose of proceeding to Lake Ontario, there to join the force under Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo. After traversing a distance of nearly 1000 miles across an uninhabited country, covered with snow and woods, he at length, in the month of March, reached Kingston, where he was immediately appointed First-Lieutenant of the Princess Charlotte frigate, Capt. Wm. Howe Mulcaster, then on the stocks, but which his officer-like, active, unremitting, and strenuous exertions were the main cause of being ready to join in the expedition of May against Oswego. On the occasion of the attack he had the personal command of the Princess Charlotte, owing to the absence of her Captain; and his conduct, we are informed, was zealous, brave, and intelligent in the extreme. Continuing in Canada, he assumed command, in June, 1814, of a division of the flotilla on Lake Ontario, as he did, in Aug. 1815 and Nov. 1816, of the Tecumseh and Newash schooners on Lakes Erie and Huron. In June, 1817, he was appointed Superintendent of the Naval Depôt on the eve of construction at Penetenguishne, on the lake last mentioned. In 1819, in consequence of a severe attack of fever and ague, which lasted eight months, and reduced him to a mere skeleton, he removed to the establishment on Lake Champlain, where he remained until Oct. 1822. He then returned home with his officers and men after an absence of 10 years, during which period he had undergone hardships of no ordinary character; and on 26 Dec. in that year he was at last promoted to the rank of Commander. He has since been on half-pay.
In Nov. 1834 Commander Kent was appointed a Stipendiary Magistrate at Jamaica, a post he still retains. He married, 24 Aug. 1824, his first-cousin, Eliza, relict of the late Jas. Chas. Grant, Esq., of Burton Crescent, London, and eldest daughter of Capt. Wm. Kent, R.N., who died in command of the Union 98, on the Mediterranean station. By that lady he has issue. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.