Catherine Hunt

Dame Catherine Hunt
Mayor of Colchester
In office
1924–1925
Personal details
Born
Catherine Reeve Hawkins

(1854-12-22)22 December 1854
England
Died18 October 1948(1948-10-18) (aged 93)

Dame Catherine Reeve Hunt DBE JP (née Hawkins; 22 December 1854 – 18 October 1948) was an English politician and activist who was mayor of Colchester, Essex, in 1924–25.[1]

Hunt was born in 1854, the daughter of Charles Henry Hawkins, of Maitlands, Colchester and Sarah Jane, daughter of John Bawtree, of Abberton, Essex. Her father was mayor of Colchester four times (1848–49, 1865–66, 1870–71, 1871–72).[2] She married Dr Edgar Atlee Hunt, her aunt's widower, in 1896.[3][4][5] Hunt and his first wife, Charlotte Mary Bawtree, were the grandparents of actress Elizabeth Inglis and great-grandparents of American actress Sigourney Weaver.[6][7]

She was a member of Colchester's Town Council from 1918 to 1934, elected its first female alderman, and served as Colchester's second female mayor in 1924.[8]

For many years she served as chairman of the Colchester branch of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association and the Colchester Local War Pensions Committee. For these services she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours.[9]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Obituary, The Times, 29 October 1948
  2. ^ Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, of Great Britain and Ireland: Including All the Titled Classes. S. Low, Marston & Company. 1923. p. 457. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  3. ^ The Lady's Who's Who. Pallas Publishing Company. 1938. p. 217. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  4. ^ The Lancet. J. Onwhyn. 1885. p. 781. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  5. ^ Assembly, Church of England National (1927). The Official Year-book of the National Assembly of the Church of England. Church Assembly [and] Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. p. 70. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  6. ^ Lipworth, Elaine (30 April 2010). "Sigourney Weaver: My family values". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Elizabeth Inglis". MovieTimes. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  8. ^ "Bailiffs and mayors of Colchester", in Victoria history of the County of Essex, vol.9
  9. ^ "No. 31840". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 March 1920. p. 3758.
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Colchester
1924–25
Succeeded by
Arthur Piper
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Women's Liberal Federation
1931–1932
Succeeded by