The Times/1902/Obituary/Charles Kent

, who died yesterday at his residence on Campden-hill, Kensington, was, as a man of letters, better known to the last than to the present generation. He began to write about the middle of the 19th century, and produced a number of books of which even the names are scarcely remembered. But he did good work in various directions, and his "public services to literature as poet and biographer" were rewarded by a Civil List pension of £100 a year. He was an authority on the life and books of the first Lord Lytton, and he edited many issues of the works of other famous authors. He was also a contributor to the "Dictionary of National Biography," the "Encyclopædia Britannica," and other standards works of reference. Mr. Kent was also a journalist. He edited the Sun newspaper from 1845 to 1870; and in 1853 married a daughter of the proprietor, Mr. Murdo Young. From 1874 until 1881 he was editor of the Weekly Register. He was born in 1823 at Paramatta [sic], and was always said to be the first British subject born in the colony of New South Wales. His father was a naval officer, and his grandfather, Captain Kent, R.N., was the discoverer of the Kent Islands.