Henry Penton (c. 1705 – 1 September 1762) was a British Member of Parliament. He first entered Parliament on his wife's stepfather's interest for

Tregony Tregony (), sometimes in the past Tregoney, is a village and former civil parishes in England, civil parish, now in the parish of Tregony with Cuby, in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies on the River Fal. In the village there is a post o ...

, a Cornish borough. He then represented his home city of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

for fourteen years before giving place to his son, dying the following year. The eldest son of John Penton of Winchester, Penton was educated at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. He succeeded to his father's estates in 1724. In 1733, he married a Miss Simondi, the daughter of the Swedish consul at

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

by his wife Anne. She was the sister of Joseph Gulston, and later made a second marriage to John Goddard; both were merchants engaged in Portuguese trade and Members of Parliament. The Pentons were an old Winchester family, and Henry was

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

of Winchester during his career, but he was first returned to Parliament on Goddard's interest for the Cornish borough of

at the

1734 British general election The 1734 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scot ...

. He was a dutiful supporter of the

Walpole ministry The Walpole ministry was led by Whig Prime Minister Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, from 1730 to 1742—when Walpole left the government. Ministry See also * 1734 British general election * 1741 British general elect ...

and the succeeding Whig ministries, for which he was rewarded in 1743 with a grant of the reversion to the sinecure office of King's letter carrier. He succeeded to this office four years later. At the

1747 British general election The 1747 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw Hen ...

, he stood for

instead, together with the incumbents George Brydges and William Powlett, relatives of the Dukes of Chandos and Bolton respectively. Brydges and Penton were returned with 50 and 37 votes, respectively, to 27 votes for Powlett. He spoke in support of a petition to suppress hawkers and pedlars in 1748, his only recorded speech in Parliament. In 1750, Lord Egmont thought, from Penton's confidences, that he might be discontented with the Ministry and prepared to join the opposition, but nothing came of it. He was again returned at Winchester in the

1754 British general election The 1754 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 11th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Owing to the exten ...

, without a contest, and continued a supporter of the Ministry. Penton stood down at the

1761 British general election The 1761 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. This was the first P ...

. His place was taken by his son

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

, to whom he was also permitted to resign his sinecure of King's letter carrier. Penton senior died the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penton, Henry 1700s births 1762 deaths British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 Members of Parliament for Tregony Members of Parliament for Winchester Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies