George Edward Hunt (2 September 1892 – 1960) was a notable British Birmingham-based

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

jeweller. He was born on 2 September 1892 in

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, near Birmingham. At the age of five he contracted

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

and became deaf. The family left the Black Country and moved to

Harborne Harborne is an area of south-west Birmingham, England. It is one of the most affluent areas of the Midlands, southwest from Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in ...

, a suburb of Birmingham, where Hunt remained until his death in 1960. In 1908, at the age of sixteen, Hunt won free admission to the Margaret Street Art School in Birmingham, where he was taught by

Bernard Cuzner Bernard Lionel Cuzner (1877 – 4 January 1956) was an England, English silversmith and product designer. Cuzner was born in Alcester in Warwickshire and initially trained as a watchmaker, before showing talent as a silversmith while taking e ...

. He was awarded several prizes for both design and metalwork in national competitions. Hunt opened a shop at Five Ways, near Birmingham city centre. By the 1920s his clientele included aristocracy such as

Eileen Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland Eileen ( or ) is an Irish feminine given name anglicised from Eibhlín and may refer to: People Artists *Eileen Agar (1899–1991), British Surrealist painter and photographer *Eileen Fisher (born 1950), clothing retailer and designer *Eileen ...

, for whom he made a series of enamelled miniatures of her ancestors. He is buried at

St Peter's Church, Harborne Saint Peter's is the ancient parish church of Harborne, Birmingham, England. Background There has been a church on the site since Saxon times and St Chad is even thought to have preached there. The base of an early preaching cross was found in ...

, alongside his parents. An exhibition of his work, ''The Silent World of an Arts and Crafts Jeweller'' was held by

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought to ...

in 2006, at their premises in London, Bath and Knowle, near Birmingham.

References

1892 births 1960 deaths Place of death missing People from Dudley People from Birmingham, West Midlands Arts and Crafts movement artists Deaf artists British jewellery designers English deaf people Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art British artists with disabilities {{England-bio-stub