528 



HUNTINGDON HUNTINGFORD. 



time 4 a sack. Although Hunt generally drove 

 four-in-hand to Devizes market, he was able to do 

 a day's work with any labourer in the county ^and 

 several anecdotes are related of the " labours " of 

 this modern Hercules. 



Hunt was a member of the yeomanry cavalry; 

 but in consequence of some misunderstanding he 

 received a letter from lord Bruce, saying, " that 

 his services were no longer required in the Marl- 

 borough troop, and requesting that he would re- 

 turn his sword and pistols, by the bearer." Hunt 

 went to lord Bruce, and demanded satisfaction. 

 For this offence he was indicted in the court of 

 King's bench, found guilty, and sentenced to pay a 

 fine of 100 and to be imprisoned for six weeks. 

 In prison he met with Waddington and some other 

 Radicals, to which may be attributed his subse- 

 quent political sentiments. It was in Bristol, 

 where he was following the trade of a brewer, 

 that he made his debut as a candidate for parlia- 

 mentary honours. In June 1812, a vacancy hav- 

 ing occurred in the representation of that town, 

 the candidates proposed were, R. H. Davis, Esq., 

 Mr Hunt, and Mr Cobbett. The poll was kept 

 open for fourteen days, at an enormous expense to 

 Mr Davis. Serious riots took place, and the city 

 was for a time at the mercy of a lawless mob. 

 The numbers polled were, for Mr Davis, 2142, 

 Mr Hunt, 235, Mr Cobbett, 0. Parliament being 

 dissolved in the following October, Mr Hunt again 

 offered himself in opposition to Mr Davis, Mr Pro- 

 theroe, and Sir Samuel Romilly ; and he was again 

 beaten by a large majority, Mr Davis and Mr Pro- 

 theroe being the members returned. Hunt twice 

 contested the county of Somerset without success, 

 and also made several fruitless attempts to interest 

 the electors of Westminster in his favour. Although 

 as a mob orator his popularity was unrivalled, and his 

 out-door triumphs were hailed by assembled thou- 

 sands, as at Manchester and Spa Fields, yet he had 

 perhaps no serious hope of ever becoming a British 

 senator. At length, however, during the excite- 

 ment of the Reform Bill in 1830, he defeated lord 

 Stanley at Preston, and entered the House of Com- 

 mons, where, like other noisy demagogues, he soon 

 found his level, arid became harmless and insigni- 

 ficant, except in his votes. In personal appear- 

 ance he was perhaps one of the finest men in the 

 House: tall, muscular, with a healthful sun-tinged 

 florid complexion, and a manly deportment half 

 yeoman, half sportsman. To a close observer, 

 however, his features were wanting in energy of 

 will and fixedness of purpose ; the brow was weak, 

 the eyes were flittering and restless, and the mouth 

 was usually garnished with a cold simper, not alto- 

 gether accordant with that heart-born enthusiasm 

 which precludes all doubt of sincerity. If to this 

 defect we add, that he was a man of very imperfect 

 education, possessing but little information, and 

 that all on one side, on the subjects he talked 

 most about, and that readiness was the chief char- 

 acteristic of his understanding, it will not be judg- 

 ing uncharitably to say, that a restless thirst of 

 excitement, great personal vanity, and the accident 

 of circumstances, and not native force of intellect, 

 achieved for him his " Radical notoriety." He 

 was re-elected in 1831 ; but in the following year 

 the Derby interest resumed its sway at Preston. 

 He died on the 13th Feb. 1835, aged sixty-two. 



HUNTINGDON; the county town of Hunt- 

 ingdonshire, is situated on a rising ground to the 

 north of the river Ouse, fifty-eight miles N. by W. 



from London. It was called in Saxon, Huntings- 

 dun, or Hunters' down, from the nature of the 

 surrounding country, as adapted for the chase. It 

 was a place of some importance in the reign of 

 Edward the Elder, who is said to have erected a 

 castle here, in 917, which was enlarged and 

 strengthened with new buildings and ramparts, by- 

 David, king of Scotland, and earl of Huntingdon, 

 in the reign of Stephen ; but was afterwards demo- 

 lished by order of Henry II. At the period of the 

 Norman Conquest, here was a mint, for coinntrc ; 

 and Matilda, the wife of William I., founded a 

 monastery at this place, which must have been 

 anciently much more extensive than it is at pre- 

 sent, as there were fifteen churches, which in 

 Camden's time were reduced to four, and at pre- 

 sent there are only two. The town consists prin- 

 cipally of one street, extending north westward 

 from the banks of the Ouse, about a mile in length. 

 The brewing-trade is carried on here, and the 

 principal commerce is in corn, flour and malt. 

 The borough comprises the parishes of All Saints, 

 St Benedict, St John the Baptist, and St Mary, all 

 in the diocese of Lincoln. Oliver Cromwell wa* 

 born in the parish of St John the Baptist, April 25, 

 1599. Population of Huntingdon in 1841,5,500. 



HUNTINGDONSHIRE; an inland county of 

 England, twenty-four miles in length, eighteen in 

 breadth, and sixty-seven in circumference. It is 

 almost surrounded by the counties of Cambridge 

 and Northampton. It is included in the diocese 

 of Lincoln and province of Canterbury. Its chief 

 rivers are the Ouse and the Nen. The Ouse 

 rises at Brackley, in Northamptonshire, arid enters 

 this county at St Neots ; the Nen has its source 

 near Daventry, flows by Oundle, and fills the sev- 

 eral Meres. Huntingdonshire is divided into four 

 hundreds, in which are six market-towns, namely, 

 Huntingdon, St Ives, Kimbolton, Ramsey, St Ne- 

 ots, and Yaxley. The air is generally good, except 

 the fenny tracts, which are frequently subject to 

 unwholesome damps. The chief products are, 

 corn, fine horned cattle, and a very rich and deli- 

 cate kind of cheese, which is made in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Stilton, where it is usually sold, hence 

 it is called Stilton cheese. Huntingdonshire, for 

 the most part, is a farming county, and produces no 

 manufacture worthy of notice. 



W r hen the Normans became masters of England, 

 William the Conqueror, in 1068, gave the earldom 

 of this county to Waltheof, a noble Saxon, on 

 whom he also bestowed the hand of his niece, 

 Judith ; but that lady betrayed her husband, who 

 was executed for a treasonable conspiracy against 

 the government. David, prince of Scotland, hav- 

 ing married the heiress of W:\ltheof, was made 

 earl of Huntingdon in 1108, and the honour con- 

 tinued in his family till 1219. Almost the whole 

 county is said to have been forest land till the 

 reign of Henry II. ; but it is now open and well 

 cultivated. Population of the county in 1801, 

 37,568; in 1841, 58,549. Population of the chief 

 towns of the county : Huntingdon, 5,500 ; St 

 Ives, 3.514; St Neots, 3,123; Kimbolton, ],G34; 

 Ramsey, and parish, 3,C80; Yaxley, 1,211. 



HUNTINGFORD, GEORGE ISAAC, lord bishop 

 of Hereford, and Warden of Winchester college, 

 was born at Winchester, September 9th, 1748. 

 He was admitted on the foundation at Winchester 

 college in 1762; and, in 1768, was elected to ne.w 

 college, Oxford ; where he attained the degree of 

 M.A. in 1776. In 1772, on the death of his bro- 



