Newbury Abbot Trent was born in Forest Gate, Essex on 14 October 1885 and studied at West Ham School of Art, the Royal College of Art in London (where he was awarded his diploma in 1906), and at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He subsequently worked primarily as a sculptor. He was also a medallist and painter.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy and Royal Society of British Artists in London; Royal West of England Academy in Bristol; Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts; Manchester City Art Gallery; and at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. He also participated in the tenth (1912) and eleventh (1916) exhibitions of the Arts Exhibition Society in London.

Trent produced several public sculptures, notably a statue of Edward VII in Brighton, unveiled in 1912. In the 1920s he was as commissioned to create a number of war memorials including for Beckenham, Kent in 1921; Ilford, Essex in 1922; Wanstead, London in 1922 and Wallsend, Tyne and Wear in 1925.

A sculpture entitled "Dans le Rêve" by Trent is illustrated in ‘Artwork’ vol.1, no.1, Summer 1924 (p.33)

He lived Clyming in Sussex; Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire; and London, where he died on 2 August 1953.