Robert Hunt (6 September 1807 – 17 October 1887) was a British mineralogist, as well as anantiquarian, an amateur poet, and an early pioneer of photography. He was born atDevonport,Plymouth and died in London on 17 October 1887.[1]
Hunt's father, anaval officer, drowned while Robert was a youth. Robert began to study in London for the medical profession, but ill-health caused him to return to settle inCornwall. In 1829, he publishedThe Mount’s Bay; a descriptive poem ... and other pieces[2] but received little critical or financial success.[3]
In 1840, Hunt became secretary to theRoyal Cornwall Polytechnic Society atFalmouth. Here he metRobert Were Fox, and carried on some physical and chemical investigations with him.[citation needed]
Hunt was appointed Professor of Mechanical Science,Government School of Mines.[citation needed]
In 1845, he accepted the invitation ofSir Henry de la Beche to become keeper of mining records at theMuseum of Economic (afterwards Practical) Geology, and when the school of mines was established in 1851 he lectured for two years onmechanical science, and afterwards for a short time onexperimental physics.
He was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Statistical Society in 1855.[3]
In 1858, he founded, with the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society,The Miners Association.[citation needed]
His principal work was the collection and editing of theMineral Statistics of the United Kingdom,[4] and this he continued to the date of his retirement (1883), when the mining record office was transferred to theHome Office.
He was elected as aFellow of the Royal Society in 1852.[5] In 1884, he published a large volume onBritish Mining in which the subject was dealt with very fully from a historical as well as a practical point of view. He also edited the fifth and some later editions ofAndrew Ure'sDictionary of Arts, Mines and Manufactures.
Hunt had many interests outside of mineralogy and published several popular books on various topics. He was an early pioneer in photography, a poet, and an antiquarian with a keen interest in folklore.FollowingDaguerre's development of thedaguerreotype in 1839, Hunt took up photography with great zeal. Just two years later, in 1841, he published hisManual of Photography, which was the first English treatise on the subject.[6] Hunt also experimented generally on the action of light, and publishedResearches on Light in 1844. He also developed theactinograph in 1845.
Hunt had a long-abiding interest in poetry as well. He regularly wrote and published poetry and tried in the 1830s to pursue a career as a playwright. In 1848, Hunt published the hugely ambitious workThe Poetry of Science, which outlined most of the important discoveries that had been made in natural philosophy until that time, while also communicating the aesthetic aspects of science to the general reader. In it, Hunt was attempting to make it clear that science and objective discovery were subjects worthy of poetic language.[7]
He also collected and wrotePopular Romances of the West of England (1865),[8] which included a record of myths and legends of old Cornwall, and proved so popular that it went through a number of editions.
Hunt died in London on 17 October 1887. Amineralogical museum atRedruth Mining School was established in his memory, but this closed in 1950, and the minerals were transferred to theSchool of Metalliferous Mining, now theCamborne School of Mines.[citation needed]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hunt, Robert".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
