Leigh Hunt Author

• Gender: Male
• Citizenship: England
• Born: Oct 19, 1784
• Died: Aug 28, 1859

James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 1784 - 28 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist, poet and writer.

Leigh Hunt was born at Southgate, London, where his parents had settled after leaving the USA. His father Isaac, a lawyer from Philadelphia, and his mother, Mary Shewell, a merchant's daughter and a devout Quaker, had been forced to come to Britain because of their loyalist sympathies during the American War of Independence. Hunt's father took holy orders and became a popular preacher, but he was unsuccessful in obtaining a permanent living. Hunt's father was then employed by James Brydges, 3rd Duke of Chandos as tutor to his nephew, James Henry Leigh (father of Chandos Leigh), after whom the boy was named.