*Nov 10, 2016 

  From John Hunter, Manchester, England

CC: of E-mail sent to Diana Singleton, granddaughter of George Hunter and great granddaughter of William Leyland Hunter.

William Leyland Hunterwas the brother of Edmund Southam Hunter, and William Leyland Hunter went to China. He was rarely referred to for reasons set out below but was usually mentioned as “Shanghai Bill” or “Bill Shang”

I was mistaken in thinking that the person who went to China was William Lionel Hunter – one of the sons of E.S. Hunter and a brother to my grandfather R.N. Hunter.

It’s time for my family to put on the sackcloth and ashes!! I think that on behalf of the remaining Hunters descended from E.S. Hunter, I owe the ancestors a big apology!! I think from the little I was told, that when the son of William Leyland Hunter came to England, he was coldly received as a relative, and even turned away, because he was believed to have been born out of wedlock! That was obviously rather shocking at the time, but now times have long moved on. Were you all aware of any of this? Please ask your wife to accept my apology! My family then knew nothing of the son’s whereabouts or whether or not he had any descendants.
I believe that William’s son was Tobias Hunter, and that he received that unwelcome response from a distant cousin of mine named Eve (or possibly Nellie) Hunter. I don’t yet know how she fits into the Hunter tree.
Have you been able to access my tree on Ancestry? I have altered settings to make it public. I will try to access the Cowley tree, and also the Hunter Family Tree of Brian Beesley, with whom I have also been in touch.
I would like to see the William Leyland Hunter tree and descendants to the present times if possible.
I have lots of background info that I have gathered in two files and a large box! It is not yet part of the Ancestry tree but I intend to record it there. I will try to answer any immediate questions that you have.
Reginald Needham Hunter and my father Harry Reginald Hunter carried on business as cotton goods manufacturers in Manchester until the mid 1960’s.
I was in practice as a lawyer until 2003.
Kind regards.

Have you visited Height Quaker Burial ground above High Newton in the Lake District? A beautiful spot and very close to the meeting house, now known as Barrow Wife and now a private house. John Hunter has a gravestone there, and there are others for his sister Agnes and brother William. I have visited the record office at Barrow Cumbria and seen a lot of Quaker records for the meetings held. John’s father James, Alice his wife and their four children are recorded as arriving within the district of the Height Meeting in a note dated 28th Sept 1827. James (with one Richard Rawlinson) is later recorded on 13th July 1834 as having suffered “for the Warden”s rate”. I think this is a reference to the Quaker practice of refusing to pay tithes and other sums to the Church of England.

John Hunter