Sir Thomas Bent (7 December 1838 – 17 September 1909) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd Premier of Victoria.
As a land speculator and property developer, Bent used his political power for personal profit, having served on the local councils for Brighton and Moorabbin for approximately 45 years. Bent was associated with many scandals, particularly in government land deals, the duplication of Brighton's railway, and the re-routing of the tramline from St Kilda to be located adjacent to properties where he held a financial interest.
In 1892, a select committee of the Victorian Parliament and, in 1909, a royal commission dealt with charges of corruption against Bent. He was cleared of any financial gain, however, it censured him strongly for unconstitutional behaviour, cast suspicion on many of his dealings, and did not entirely clear him of all the allegations.
Consequently, during his political career, Bent was known by his sobriquet, "Honest Tom Bent". A biography, published in 1993, was titled Tommy Bent: Bent by Name, Bent by Nature.
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Early life
Bent was born in Penrith, New South Wales the eldest of four sons and two daughters of James Bent, a former convict and hotelkeeper. He came to Melbourne with his parents in 1849, was educated in Fitzroy, and commenced working a market gardener in Brighton East.
In 1861 he became a rate collector for the town council of Brighton, at the time a fast-growing suburb. He soon began buying and selling land as a property developer in the areas surrounding Brighton and Moorabbin. He developed a major new subdivision, later named Bentleigh, in his honour. He was a member of both Brighton and Moorabbin town councils, and was Mayor of Brighton nine times.
State politics
In 1871 Bent was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the district of Brighton, defeating the veteran liberal George Higinbotham "to the amazement of everyone". He had no particular party loyalties and first held office in the Service government in 1880. He was Commissioner for Works and Railways in the ministry of Sir Bryan O'Loghlen in 1881–1883, and used this position to extend the railway line from Caulfield to Cheltenham, thus enormously increasing the value of his own property developments. The exposure of Bent's dealings led to the defeat of the O'Loghlen government at the 1883 elections, which led to the Melbourne Punch publishing a satirical lament.
Bent spent eighteen years on the backbench and concentrated on his property dealings. His fortunes suffered a reversal in 1888 when a bad investment in Ringwood caused the collapse of the Thomas Bent Land Co., but he soon recovered and became a leading player in the great Melbourne land boom that reached its climax in 1890. For instance, in 1884 Bent purchased property in Exhibition Street for £1,488 and on the same day resold it for £2,000. In 1892 he surprised his critics by being elected Speaker as part of a complex political deal. A newspaper asked: "Why is Speaker Bent the first commoner in the land? Because no-one commoner than Bent can be found."
In the severe crash that followed the boom Bent was almost bankrupted, with debts of £80,000. He had transferred many of his assets to his wife's name and this saved him from bankruptcy. At the election which followed the fall of James Patterson's government, Bent was defeated at Brighton. His fate was sealed when The Age published letters Bent had written as Railways Minister in 1881, offering MPs railways lines in their electorates in exchange for their votes.
Bent moved with his wife Elizabeth and their two daughters to Port Fairy, where he took up dairy farming. Not intent of leaving politics, in 1897 he unsuccessfully stood for the Electoral district of Port Fairy, and moved back to Melbourne in 1900. At the elections held later that year, Bent regained his former seat in the Assembly as the Member for Brighton and in the conservative ministry of William Irvine, he was re-appointed as Minister for Railways. He again purchased land in Brighton and then approved a tramline from St Kilda to Brighton that was located adjacent to his property investments.
Death and legacy
Bent died on 17 September 1909 from complications associated with diabetes at his home in Bay Street, Brighton. He was given a state funeral, attended by approximately 15,000 people, and buried in Brighton Cemetery.
He was married twice, to Hannah Hall, who died childless, and to Elizabeth Huntley. His estate was valued at £35,000 (equivalent to $5,600,000 in 2022), most of it going to his daughters from his second marriage. A daughter, Elizabeth Bleazby, was one of the first female municipal councillors in Victoria.
His counsel, when before the 1909 royal commission, described Bent thus:
"He is quick, alert, forceful, progressive, and with a contempt for details, like all great men. He is a born captain of industry. He likes big undertakings.. He has a disregard for red tape formalities, purely official restraints, and when he decides that a thing ought to be done, he gives no peace to anybody till it is done. Perhaps that is the reason why he is not persona grata with some public officials with whom he has come in contact. He likes to get to the heart of his work, and carry it through, and do things. The man who will undertake progressive developments in the interests of the State, who will carry out big undertakings, must sometimes make mistakes. The man who never makes mistakes will never do anything. These facts must be considered when discussing the various matters that come before you. In other words, Sir Thomas is more of a Napoleon than a Chesterfield. He does not study deportment or dignity. He does not allow himself to be carried away by too much politeness. If anything, lie is rather brusque. He is a straight, outspoken "John Bull." You know what he means. He is not one of those diplomatic, cultured artists whom we read of and meet occasionally, men who can conceal their thoughts in seven or eight languages. He speaks plain Saxon, and that is why the erroneous impression has got abroad that he would, perhaps, not altogether allow his Ministers to completely dictate to him."
A large portrait of Bent, commissioned by a group of Brighton residents, was painted by Charles E. Gordon-Frazer in 1892, whilst Bent was Speaker, and was hung in the Brighton Town Hall, as part of the Bayside Council art collection.
Statue
A few years after his death, the Brighton Council raised money by public subscription to commemorate the memory of its most famous politician. The 2.9-metre-high (10 ft) bronze statue of Bent, designed by the sculptor Margaret Baskerville and cast by C. W. Marriott, was unveiled in 1913, located on the Nepean Highway in Brighton. The sculpture was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 13 February 2003 in recognition of its historical and social significance; and was also added to non-statutory lists by the Victorian branch of the National Trust on 14 December 1994 and the now defunct Register of the National Estate on an unknown date.
It was unusual that such an important public commission was given to a woman sculptor in Melbourne in the 1910s. This work helped Baskerville establish her reputation as Victoria's first professional female sculptor and resulted in her gaining further public commissions in later years. The statue is mounted on a tall granite plinth and a memorial drinking fountain, dedicated to Bent's second wife, is situated adjacent to the statue. The granite memorial has four piers supporting a canopy embellished with a cusped arch. A bronze medallion held by two cherubs depicts, in low-relief, a bust of Elizabeth Bent.
Dubbed as the "Tommy Bent's statue", for many years it was a well-known Melbourne landmark, which, at the time of the Victorian Football League grand final, was decorated with a cap and scarf in the colours of the team that won the premiership. In the late 1960s, the statue was regularly defaced by a bucket of usually white paint—perhaps as a New Year's Eve prank. As a result of the widening of the Nepean Highway in 1980, the statue and fountain were moved to a less prominent location near Bay Street and its landmark status was lost.