Frederick Thomas Penton

Frederick Thomas Penton (1851 – 12 June 1929) was a British army officer and Conservative Party politician.[1][2]

He was the eldest son of Colonel Henry Penton, developer of the Pentonville area of London and his wife, Eliza Maria nee Langley of Brittas Castle, County Tipperary.[2][3] He was educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford.[2] In 1873 he received a commission in the 4th Dragoon Guards and served in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882.[2] He left the army with the rank of captain in 1884.[1]

He married Caroline Helen Mary Stewart of County Donegal in 1883.[2][3] The couple had two children.[3] He was an extensive land owner in a number of English counties, and was a justice of the peace for Buckinghamshire and the County of London, and a Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex.[2][3]

In June 1886 he was unanimously selected by the Conservative Party to contest the seat of Finsbury Central.[4] Penton won the seat, unseating the sitting Liberal Party member of parliament, Howard Spensley, by the narrow margin of 5 votes.[5][6] At the next general election in 1892 he was defeated by Dadabhai Naoroji, who won the seat by 3 votes following a recount.[6][7] In April 1893 he indicated that he would not stand for parliament again.[8] He was High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire for the year 1896.[3]

He died at his home in South Kensington in June 1929, and was buried at St Peter's Church, Old Steine, Brighton.[9]