Richard William Hunt

Richard William Hunt
Richard William Hunt
Born	11 April 1908 ; Spondon
Died	13 November 1979 (aged 71); Oxford
Alma mater	Haileybury and Imperial Service College; Balliol College ;
Employer	Bodleian Library (1945–1975); University of Liverpool (1934–1945) ;
Spouse(s)	Edith Irene Joyce Twamley, Katharine Eva Rowland
Children	Tim Hunt
Awards	Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (1967) ;
Position held	Bodley's Librarian

Richard William Hunt (11 April 1908 – 13 November 1979)^[1] was a scholar, grammarian, palaeographer, editor, and author of a number of books about medieval history. He began his career as a lecturer in palaeography at Liverpool University, and worked at Bush House during World War II. In 1945 he obtained the position of Keeper of the Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, and he relocated to Oxford, remaining in the position until 1975.^[2]

On 11 December 1939 he married Edith Irene Joyce Twamley at Spondon. She died from complications of pregnancy on 7 December 1940. On 14 February 1942 Hunt remarried to Katharine (Kit) Eva Rowland (1913/14–1977), daughter of timber merchant Harry Rowland of Parkgate, Cheshire.^[1] Three sons were born to them, including Tim Hunt.^[3]

On Hunt's retirement from the Bodleian in 1975, he was honoured with an Oxford exhibition, The Survival of Ancient Literature, as well as a collection of essays.^[4] His death in 1980 was marked by a second major exhibition, Manuscripts at Oxford.^[5]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Vaisey, David (2004). "Hunt, Richard William (1908–1979), palaeographer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53058. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Southern, R. W. (1981). "Richard William Hunt, 1908–1979". Proceedings of the British Academy. 67: 371–397.
^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001: Tim Hunt". The Nobel Prize. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
^ Alexander, J. J. G.; Gibson, M.T. (eds.). Medieval learning and literature: Essays presented to Richard William Hunt. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822402-0.
^ de la Mare, Albinia C.; Barker-Benfield, B. C., eds. (1980). Manuscripts at Oxford: an exhibition in memory of Richard William Hunt (1908–1979), keeper of western manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1945–1975, on themes selected and described by some of his friends. Oxford: Bodleian Library. ISBN 978-0-900177-76-7.