Andrew was apprenticed to the "Times" London. He was convicted of burglary and sentenced to Botany Bay. He served in Sydney and arrived in Hobart in 1811 or early 1812. He became editor of "Hobart Town Gazette" in June 1816. He allowed anonymous writers to libel the Governor (Governor Arthur) and got into trouble for doing so. He was tried for two libels in 1827 and suffered a short imprisonment. He had been dismissed from office as Government Printer in 1825 and had founded another paper "Colonial Times" then later "Bent's News". Andrew Bent had ten children. He went to New South Wales in 1839 and at the age of 55 died in 1851.