Charles Weller Kent: The UK's First ‘Parliamentary Lobbyist’ (1913–16)?

This article provides the first ever detailed analysis of the work undertaken by the man who seems to have been the first person in the UK to have had ‘parliamentary lobbyist’ as his job title: Charles Weller Kent. It focuses on Kent's period as the first lobbyist for the National Farmers’ Union from 1913 to 1916, and deals briefly with his personal life and his primary careers as a barrister and journalist. Academic work on lobbying and lobbyists tends to be largely ahistorical, so one aim of this article is to encourage greater interest in archival research in order that a fuller accounting of the development of lobbying can be achieved. The article seeks explicitly to record and honour the contribution of the man whose appointment marks the emergence of modern professional lobbyists in the UK.