George Brent (1817 - 1881) was an alumnus of Georgetown University, a lawyer, politician, and judge. He received three degrees from Georgetown: an A.B. in 1833, an A.M. 1837, and an honorary LL. D. in 1868.
Brent was born on September 28, 1817 in Charles County, Maryland. He became a student at Georgetown in 1828 and after receiving his A.B., began studying law with his uncle, William L. Brent. He went on to study law at Harvard University. Brent was a member of the Whig party and then a Democrat. He was elected as Maryland State's Attorney in 1841 and was elected several times to the Maryland State Legislature. He was also associate justice of the Maryland court of appeals and chief justice of the seventh judicial circuit court of Maryland.
In 1849 he married Catherine Merrick, daughter of William D. Merrick, with whom he had ten children. He died in Charles County, MD on January 6, 1881.1
His son, William M. Brent, was also a Georgetown alumnus, receiving an A.B. in 1874. He became a lawyer as well, practicing in Port Tobacco, MD.2
- 1James S. Easby-Smith, Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, its founders, benefactors, officers, instructors and alumni. Vol. 2, New York: Lewis, 1907, pp. 134 - 135. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433076015860?urlappend=%3Bseq=150
- 2"Personal," Georgetown College Journal, November 1878, Vol. VII No. 1, p. 1. http://hdl.handle.net/10822/1044314
