Anne Hunter (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Home) (1742 – 1821) was a

salonnière A salon is a gathering of people held by an inspiring host. During the gathering they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "e ...

and poet in

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

London. She is remembered mostly for the texts to at least nine of

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's 14 songs in English. She was the wife of surgeon and anatomist John Hunter, whose anatomical collections in their home eventually formed the basis for the

Hunterian Museum The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

. She entertained the leading

Bluestocking ''Bluestocking'' is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Eliz ...

s at their house.

Biography

Hunter was the eldest daughter of surgeon Robert Boyne Home of Greenlaw Castle, Berwickshire. In July 1771, she married John Hunter, one of the most distinguished scientists and surgeons of his day. Her brother

Everard Home Sir Everard Home, 1st Baronet, FRS (6 May 1756, in Kingston upon Hull – 31 August 1832, in London) was a British surgeon. Home was born in Kingston-upon-Hull and educated at Westminster School. He gained a scholarship to Trinity College, Ca ...

was apprenticed to her husband as a surgeon. Her salons were among the most enjoyable of her time, though not always to her husband's taste. The

Elizabeth Carter Elizabeth Carter (pen name Eliza; 16 December 1717 – 19 February 1806) was an English poet, Classicism, classicist, writer, translation, translator, linguistics, linguist, and polymath. As one of the Blue Stockings Society (England), Bluestock ...

Mary Delany Mary Delany ( Granville; 14 May 1700 – 15 April 1788) was an English artist, letter-writer, and bluestocking, known for her "paper-mosaicks" and botanic drawing, needlework and her lively correspondence. Early life Mary Delany was born at C ...

, and

Elizabeth Montagu Elizabeth Montagu (née Robinson; 2 October 1718 – 25 August 1800) was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonnière, literary critic and writer, who helped to organize and lead the Blue Stockings Society. Her parents were both ...

were her friends. Her husband's sister was widowed in 1778, which led indirectly to Dorothea and her children moving to London a few years later. Anne Hunter proved an inspiration to the young

Joanna Baillie Joanna Baillie (11 September 1762 – 23 February 1851) was a Scottish poet and dramatist, known for such works as ''Plays on the Passions'' (three volumes, 1798–1812) and ''Fugitive Verses'' (1840). Her work shows an interest in moral philoso ...

, who devoted herself seriously to writing poetry and drama. On John Hunter's death in 1793, his widow was left ill provided for. For some time she was indebted for a maintenance partly to the queen's bounty and to the generosity of Dr. Maxwell Garthshore, and partly to the sale of her husband's furniture, library, and curiosities. Her son-in-law,

Sir James Campbell of Inverneill Lieutenant General Sir James Campbell, 1st Baronet (25 May 1763 – 5 June 1819) , 3rd of Inverneill House was a British soldier, politician and colonial administrator. He was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Ionian Islands, Adjutant-Gen ...

, provided her with a small annuity, and in 1799 Parliament voted to give her £15,000 for her husband's collections, which finally placed her in fair circumstances. (This became The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London; when his anatomist brother to

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

died in 1783, he bequeathed his collection to Glasgow, where it became the

Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology M ...

.) Anne Hunter had four children, of whom two, a son and a daughter, survived her. She lived in retirement in London till her death on 7 January 1821.

Poetry and songs

As a young woman she had gained some note as a lyrical poet, her "Flower of the Forest" appearing in '' The Lark,'' an Edinburgh periodical, in 1765. Thirty-two years later she wrote "Sports of the Genii" to a set of graceful drawings by Susan Macdonald (d. 1803), eldest daughter of Lord-chief-baron Macdonald; these display humour and fancy. She published a volume of poems in 1802 which ran to a second edition the following year. The conservative magazine ''

British Critic The ''British Critic: A New Review'' was a quarterly publication, established in 1793 as a conservative and high-church review journal riding the tide of British reaction against the French Revolution. The headquarters was in London. The journa ...

'' suggests that her poems show no depth of thought, but have a natural feeling and simplicity of expression, which make many of them worth reading. Haydn set a number of her songs to music, including "My Mother bids me bind my Hair," originally written to an air of

Pleyel Ignace Joseph Pleyel (; ; 18 June 1757 – 14 November 1831) was an Austrian-born French composer, music publisher and piano builder of the Classical period. Life Early years He was born in in Lower Austria, the son of a schoolmaster named Ma ...

's. Her relationship with Haydn is ambiguous, though at the time of his visit she was a widow. Songs by Haydn on her texts include The Mermaid's Song, Fidelity, Pleasing Pain, and The Spirit's Song and a libretto for ''The Creation'', which was based on

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

's ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

''.Caroline Grigson. 2009. ''The Life and Poems of Anne Hunter: Haydn's Tuneful Voice''. Liverpool University Press,

References

External links

Anne Hunter
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)Anne Hunter: Poet, Songwriter, Wife
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Anne 1742 births 1821 deaths 18th-century Scottish poets 19th-century Scottish poets People from Berwickshire Scottish women poets 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers 18th-century women writers