in church, but was acquitted on appeal to the Clerkenwell quarter sessions. Bishop Creighton forbade the extreme practices to which Kensit objected, but disregarded his threats of further interference. In the same year at the Bradford church congress Kensit denounced the bishop's weakness.
At the general election of 1900 Kensit unsuccessfully contested Brighton as an independent conservative, and made the district the scene of frequent anti-ritualist disturbances. In 1901 he again achieved prominence in London by his public protests in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow against the elections of bishop Winnington-Ingram to the see of London, and of Charles Gore to that of Worcester. In the autumn of 1902 he and his followers transferred their activities to Liverpool, where their propaganda excited violent outbreaks. After addressing a meeting at Claughton Hall, Birkenhead, Kensit was returning to Liverpool, when a chisel was flung at him and severely wounded him in the left eye-lid. Kensit was removed to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and died on 18 Oct. 1902 of double pneumonia, unconnected with the wound. He was buried in Hampstead cemetery. John Mackeever, who was charged with flinging the chisel, was tried for manslaughter and acquitted at the Liverpool assizes on 11 Dec. 1902. A sincere but narrow-minded fanatic, Kensit was unfitted by education and judgment to lead the protestant cause. On 14 Sept. 1878 he married Edith Mary, daughter of Alfred Eves of the Corn Exchange, Mark Lane, who survived him with two daughters and a son, Mr. J. A. Kensit, who carried on his father's propaganda.
[J. O. Wilcox, John Kensit, 1903 (portrait frontispiece); J. Britten, A Prominent Protestant, 1899; The Times, and Liverpool Post, 9 Oct. 1902; Churchman's Magazine, 1892 and 1902; Louise Creighton, Life of Mandell Creighton, 1904, ii. 288 seq.]
KENT, CHARLES, whose full Christian names were William Charles Mark (1823–1902), author and journalist, born in London on 3 Nov. 1823, was eldest son in a family of five sons and two daughters of William Kent, R.N., and grandson of William Kent, captain R.N. [q. v.]. His mother was Ellen, only daughter of Charles Baggs, judge of the vice-admiralty court, Demerara, and sister of Charles Michael Baggs, Roman catholic bishop [q. v.]. Both parents were Roman catholics, and Kent was educated first at Prior Park, Bath, and then at St. Mary's College, Oscott (13 Feb. till Christmas 1838). At an early age he adopted the profession of letters and began writing prose and verse. At Christmas 1845, when only twenty-two years of age, he succeeded William Frederick Deacon [q. v.] as editor of the 'Sun,' an evening newspaper, which, founded in 1792 by William Pitt, had sunk into a struggling condition. Its politics had long been liberal, and it advocated free trade. Since 1833 it was the sole property of Murdo Young, whose daughter Kent married in 1853. In 1850 Kent purchased the paper of his future father-in-law for 2024Z. Kent remained both editor and proprietor, but he failed, despite his zeal and industry, to restore the fortunes of the paper, which expired on 28 Feb. 1871.
The 'Sun' was one of the first journals to publish reviews of books, and Kent was a voluminous contributor of these as well as of leading articles. Some of his political sketches were published separately under pseudonyms. 'The Derby Ministry, by Mark Rochester,' appeared in 1858 and was reissued as 'Conservative Statesmen'; 'The Gladstone Government, by A Templar,' followed in 1869. After his connection with the 'Sun' ceased, Kent edited, from 1874 to 1881, the 'Weekly Register,' a Roman catholic periodical. Meanwhile Kent was called to the bar at the Middle Temple (10 June 1859), but he did not practise. He was busy seeking a literary reputation in fields outside journalism. ' Catholicity in the Dark Ages, by an Oscotian' (1847) gave promise of enlightened learning. 'The Vision of Cagliostro, a Tale of the Five Senses,' which appeared in 'Blackwood's' in 1847, was reissued in the first series of 'Tales from Blackwood.' His earliest independent volume under his own name, 'Aletheia, or the Doom of Mythology; with other Poems' (1850), showed poetic thought and feeling. One of the poems, 'Lamartine in February [1848] 'accidentally came to the notice of the French poet and statesman three years after its publication and drew from him an enthusiastic letter of gratitude. At the same time Kent wrote largely for 'Household Words' and 'All the Year Round,' and came into intimate relations with Dickens, the editor and proprietor. To the 'New Monthly Magazine' he contributed 'Stereoscopic Glimpses,' twenty poems descriptive of as many English poets' home life, beginning with Shakespeare at Shottery and ending with Wordsworth at Rydal. These he collected in 1862 as
