Clergyman. Born at Culross (Fife), Pont studied philosophy at the University of St Andrews. He became an ally of John Knox (1510-72) and was present at the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1560. He was responsible for revising the first Book of Discipline (1561) and served as Minister of Dunblane and Dunkeld, Provost of Trinity College (Edinburgh), and as Commissioner of Moray, Inverness and Banff, responsible for spreading the Reformation to these areas.
Knox asked Pont to communicate his last wishes to the General Assembly of 1572. In 1574, he was appointed the Minister of St Cuthbert's Church in Edinburgh, and served as Moderator of the General Assembly six times through difficult times in Scotland. His influence extended beyond the church; he was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice in 1572. He accompanied the English Ambassador to Stirling in 1578 to mediate in a power struggle between James Douglas, the 4th Earl of Morton (c.1525-85) who had served as Regent, and Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll (c.1541-84), and John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl (d.1579), which threatened to escalate into civil war. Pont opposed the involvement of the Crown in the church and the suggestion of an Episcopalian system.
Pont was greatly enthusiastic for a full union with England, publishing his De Unione Britanniae a year after the Union of the Crowns.
