Joseph Hunt (MP)
Joseph Hunt (1762–1816) was a British Tory MP who also held various senior posts linked to the Admiralty and Royal Navy.
Life
He was born at
Portsmouth Dockyard (later Surveyor of the Navy) and his wife Anne Irish (d.1804).[1] The family also had a London house at Blackheath. He was educated at Winchester College from 1773 to 1777.[2]
From 1779 (aged only 17) he was Clerk to his father in his role as
Sir Samuel Hood at the Admiralty 1781–82. In 1788 he became private secretary to John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham in the Admiralty, retaining this role until at least 1802. In 1789 he became "Receiver" in the Admiralty's Sixpenny Office. From 1790 to 1798 he was commander of the victualling office overseeing supplies to the Royal Navy. He was in charge of the Transport Office 1798 to 1802 (dealing with French prisoners-of-war), clerk of deliveries in the Ordnance Department 1802–03, Treasurer to the Royal Navy 1803 to 1806 and 1807 to 1810.[3]
In 1791 he was appointed Director of Greenwich Hospital, London, one of the Admiralty's most important locations. He held this post for 19 years.[2]
In 1804 he stood unsuccessfully as MP for
Lee, Kent confiscated by the Ordnance Board.[5]
Disgraced, he died in France on 10 January 1816.[6]
Family
In April 1785 he married Catherine Davie, daughter of Sir John Davie, 7th baronet of Creedy in Devon.[2]
References
- ^ "Edward Hunt (d.bef.1787)". threedecks.org.
- ^ a b c "HUNT, Joseph (?1762-1816), of Lee, Kent. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ^ Morning Chronicle (newspaper) 30 Jan. 1810
- ^ Gent. Mag. (1810), i. 276; Pol. Reg. 17 Feb. 1810; Add. 48227, f. 175; CJ, lxv. 110, 123, 135, 249, 280.
- ^ Parliamentary Debate Vol. XVII. 169-70
- ^ Hart, Lee, 11-12; Gent. Mag. (1816), i. 380; Burke PB (1959) Davie