Nicholas Hunt | |
---|---|
Birth name | Nicholas John Streynsham Hunt |
Born | Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales | 7 November 1930
Died | 25 October 2013 Shere, Surrey, England | (aged 82)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Years of service | 1952–1987 |
Rank | Admiral |
Commands held |
Commander-in-Chief Fleet and
Allied Commander-in-Chief Channel and Eastern Atlantic. Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland Director-General, Naval Manpower and Training Flag Officer, Second Flotilla |
Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order |
Spouse(s) | Meriel Eve Hunt, Lady Hunt (née Givan) |
Relations | Jeremy Hunt (son) |
Admiral Sir Nicholas John Streynsham Hunt GCB LVO DL (7 November 1930 – 25 October 2013) was a senior Royal Navy officer. He was Commander-in-Chief Fleet from 1985 to 1987.
Hunt was born on 7 November 1930 [1] in Hawarden, Flintshire, the younger son [2] of Brigadier John Montgomerie Hunt of the 5th Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment, Indian Army [3] and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Walter Baldwyn Yates CBE. [2] The Hunt family were landed gentry, of Boreatton, Baschurch, Shropshire. A cousin was Agnes Hunt, pioneer of orthopaedic nursing. [4]
Hunt was educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. [1] After graduating, he gained a commission in the Royal Navy and was promoted to lieutenant on 31 July 1952. [5] He served as Assistant Private Secretary to Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent from 1959 [6] [7] to 1962. [1] Promoted to lieutenant commander on 17 August 1960, [8] he was posted to the Directorate of Naval Plans at the Ministry of Defence in 1966. [9]
Hunt became executive officer of HMS Ark Royal [6] in 1969 and was then given command of the amphibious warfare ship HMS Intrepid in February 1974 [10] before attending the Royal College of Defence Studies later that year. [1] He went on to be Director of Naval Plans at the Ministry of Defence in August 1976 [11] and captain of the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in October 1978. [12] Appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen on 7 July 1980 [13] (which post he held until 7 January 1981), [14] he became Flag Officer, Second Flotilla in October 1980. [1] He was promoted to rear admiral on 7 January 1981 [14] and became Director-General, Naval Manpower and Training in November 1981. [1]
Hunt was promoted to vice admiral on 6 December 1983, [15] on appointment as Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland, [6] and to admiral on 25 June 1985, [16] on appointment as Commander-in-Chief Fleet [6] and Allied Commander-in-Chief Channel and Eastern Atlantic. [1] He retired from the Navy on 26 July 1987. [17]
Hunt was Deputy Managing Director at Eurotunnel from 1987 to 1989 [1] and Director-General of the Chamber of Shipping [6] from 1991 to 1997. [1] He also held part-time appointments including Chairman of the South West Surrey District Health Authority from 1990 to 1995, [1] Chairman of Nuffield Hospitals from 1996 to 2001, [1] Commissioner of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission from 1988 to 1992 [1] and Chairman of Chatham Historic Dockyard from 1998 to 2005. [18] He also became Chairman of Ferrero UK Ltd in 2005. [1]
Hunt was known to be a strong supporter of the nuclear deterrent [19] and was Chairman of the Royal Navy Club of 1765 & 1785 (United 1889). [20] He became Deputy Lieutenant to the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey on 23 January 1996. [21]
Hunt was appointed Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom in 1994, [22] holding that post until 1997 when he became Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom [23] and Lieutenant of the Admiralty, [1] positions that he held until 2001. [24]
He died at his home on 25 October 2013 at the age of 82. [25]
In 1966, he married Meriel Eve Givan, daughter of Major Henry C. Givan of the Isle of Wight, [2] formerly of Rangoon. [26] Together they had two sons (the elder of whom is the former Foreign Secretary and the present Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt) [27] and one daughter. [6] Lady Hunt died in 2022. [28]
On 20 July 1961, Hunt was made a Member of the Fourth Class of the Royal Victorian Order. [29] Members of this class were renamed Lieutenants in 1984 and henceforth used the post-nominals LVO. Hunt was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1985 New Year Honours. [30] He was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1987 New Year Honours. [31]
Hunt was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1988. [1]
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