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Leigh Hunt

The poet, literary critic, and journalist Leigh Hunt was born on October 19, 1784. His parents had recently moved to London from Philadelphia, from which they fled the American Revolutionary War. Although Hunt’s father Isaac was personal friends with Benjamin Franklin, he supported the British so had to both relocate his family and start a new career, since his training in colonial law did not equip him to be a solicitor in England. Isaac Hunt became a minister in the Unitarian Universalist church, and this theology influenced his son Leigh Hunt in various ways, most notably by instilling values of inclusivity and community. Isaac’s success as a preacher helped him become well-connected with the London elite, a network he later used in Hunt’s favor when compiling a subscriber list for Hunt’s first book, Juvenalia. But Isaac’s financial mismanagement meant that Hunt grew up with modest means, which is how he qualified for admittance to the Christ’s Hospital Charity School in London, where he boarded for eight years.

Though the Hunts beat this initial libel charge, along with two subsequent ones, in late 1812, the charge of seditious libel finally stuck when a jury convicted John and Leigh Hunt, and they were each sentenced to two years in prison. Ironically, Hunt’s imprisonment seems to have facilitated his literary career by raising his profile, which attracted the attention of second-generation Romantic poets such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. After serving his prison term, Hunt experienced persistent financial problems that led him to increasingly rely on his wealthier friends for support. Hunt was perhaps at the height of his professional career, however, at this time, and his editorial role at the Examiner made him a significant tastemaker of literature.

Through publications such as the Examiner and the Indicator, Hunt exposed the broader public to the literary works of fellow Romantics, such as Shelley, Byron, and John Keats. Regular staff contributors to the journal also included Charles Lamb and William Hazlitt. Hunt had both professional and personal relationships with all of these writers. When Hunt sought to expand the collection of hair he’d begun with a lock of John Milton’s hair he had received from Dr. Robert Batty, he added locks from the living authors within his circle. Relative to many of his Romantic contemporaries, Hunt lived a fairly long life, so his circle eventually included authors such as Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, both of whom have pages in Hunt’s Hair Book.