Samuel Hunter (editor)
Samuel Hunter (1769–1839) was a Scottish journalist, the editor of the Glasgow Herald.
Life
The son of John Hunter (1716–1781), parish minister of Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire. Receiving his elementary education there, he qualified as a surgeon at Glasgow University, and for a time, about the end of the 18th century, practised his profession in Ireland. Somewhat later he acted as captain in the North Lowland Regiment of fencibles, and settled in Glasgow.[1]
On 10 January 1803 Hunter became proprietor of the Glasgow Herald and Advertiser, to which he then for 34 years spent most of his time running. Soon afterwards, in a French invasion scare, he figured first as major in a corps of gentlemen sharpshooters, and secondly as colonel commandant of the fourth regiment of Highland local militia.[1]
Sitting on Glasgow town council, Hunter also rose to be a magistrate. In 1820 fresh military activity brought him forward as commander of a choice corps of gentlemen sharpshooters. From this time till 1837, when he retired from the Herald—then a sheet of four pages, appearing bi-weekly—he was one of the most prominent Glasgow citizens.[1]
After retiring Hunter settled at Rothesay, and he died on 9 June 1839 when visiting his nephew, Archibald Blair Campbell, D.D., parish minister of Kilwinning, Ayrshire. He was buried in Kilwinning churchyard.[1]
Notes
- Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). . Dictionary of National Biography. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Attribution
