Gent was born in 1895, the son of John Gent (1844–1927) and Harriet (née Frankland) Randall. His original name was Gerard Edward James Gent, but for unknown reasons he changed it to Edward James Gent. He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and Trinity College, Oxford.

Gent married Guendolen Mary Wyeth in 1923, and they had four children, Marcus James Gent, Gerard Nicholas Gent, Ann Monica Gent and Janice Mary Gent.

Gent served with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in the First World War in Flanders and Italy. He was wounded twice and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 and the Distinguished Service Order in 1919.^{[citation needed]}

He was the first appointed Governor of the Malayan Union. He was an instrumental figure in the formation of the Malayan Union, which was established on 1 April 1946 in Kuala Lumpur.

Gent remained as the High Commissioner for Malaya when the Malayan Union was dissolved and replaced by the Federation of Malaya. But he did not remain at his post for long. He was sacked by the Colonial Office and recalled to London on 29 June 1948 at the onset of the Malayan Emergency after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia, lobbied Whitehall.

Gent disbelieved the communists were of any threat and refused to act. When the communists first launched their attacks on Malayan rubber estates, Gent on 16 June declared an emergency only in parts of Perak and Johor, much to the disappointment of the rubber planters, who called for a nationwide declaration of emergency. Gent was only forced to widen the declaration to the whole of Malaya the next day when the Straits Times wrote "Govern or Get Out" on its front page, thus galvanising public sentiment against him.

Gent was returning to the United Kingdom in an Avro York transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force when it collided with a Douglas DC-6 of Scandinavian Airlines System near Northwood, north London, a week after he was recalled to London.

• Gent Family History