Author: Hunt, John
Biography:
HUNT, John (1775-1848: ODNB)
John Hunt is known to history mainly as the elder brother of Leigh Hunt (q.v.) and his fellow-martyr in the cause of freedom of the press. John bore the brunt of the martyrdom. Their parents, Mary (Shewell) and Isaac Hunt, were Americans. John was probably born in Philadelphia, where his father was a lawyer and political activist. The family was obliged to leave the US after the rebellion of 1776; they settled in London, where Isaac, MA of Philadelphia College (now the University of Pennsylvania), was ordained deacon in the established church in 1777. John served an apprenticeship with Henry Reynell, printer, of Piccadilly, and once out of his indentures married Sarah Hoole Hammond at Lambeth on 22 Oct. 1797; her sister married into the Reynell family. Hunt embarked on a career as a publisher, especially of independent, left-leaning newspapers and magazines. Several of these were short-lived, but he stayed with The Examiner, a weekly founded in 1808, for twenty years before selling his share. For libels against the government and the monarchy Hunt was prosecuted repeatedly, fined occasionally, and imprisoned three times. In 1819 he moved with his sizable family to Upper Chaddon, near Taunton, Somerset, and handed over to one of their sons the daily business of the Examiner. From this semi-retirement, however, he continued to undertake risky publishing ventures such as pamphlets of his own on political subjects, Leigh Hunt’s periodical The Liberal, the later cantos of Byron’s Don Juan, and the Posthumous Poems of P. B. Shelley (qq.v.). He died at 13A Grove Place, Brompton (now London) on 7 Sept. 1848, leaving personal property valued at £40. Several papers reprinted the obituary that had appeared in the Examiner: “an honester [man] never breathed.” (ODNB 4 Jan. 2023; CCEd 4 Jan. 2023; finmypast.com 4 Jan. 2023; Scotsman 20 Sept. 1848)