IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF

THOMAS COULTON HUNTER

DIED 6. MAY 1882.

AGED 71 YEARS

HIS END WAS PEACE

ALSO OF ELEANOR, HIS WIDOW,

DIED JULY 15TH 1915,

AGED 73 YEARS.

DEATH OF MR. THOMAS COULTON HUNTER

We regret to record the death of one of Barrow’s oldest and most respected citizen’s (sic), Mr. Thomas Coulton Hunter, contractor and farmer, which took place at his residence, Peas Holmes, on Saturday week. The deceased, who was 71 years of age, enjoyed very good health up to a week or two ago, when he took his bed. (sic) The deceased has had charge of some of the largest earthwork contracts in the borough and district, and his genial temperament, his kind disposition, and his charity have won for him a good name amongst a very large circle of friends in the neighbourhood. The funeral takes (should be took) place at Kirkby on Wednesday, at 3.15 p.m., and all friends are invited. Mr. Mason, locomotive superintendent of the Furness Railway Company, was engaged, along with Mr. Hunter, on the Preston and Wyre Railway 40 years ago, and for 30 years they have each been engaged on the Furness Railway. The Mayor of Barrow (William Gradwell, who died in office Nov. 1882) and Mr. Hunter contracted largely together for the last 34 years, each in their own departments, and some years ago Mr. James Garden, of Dalton, was in partnership with the deceased. Mr. Hunter’s first work here was in the construction of the embankment from Concle to Roa Island, and he was afterwards employed in the construction of the railway from Kirkby to Broughton, and since then he has contracted under the Furness Railway Company.  His first wife died about 14 years ago, to the deep regret of the members of her family and many friends. Mr. Hunter has left behind him two sons in the same business; another son who is now on his way home from Australia, and two daughters. The deceased was a great grandfather, and he left behind him three generations of children. His widow, who was his second wife, is left to mourn his loss with six children, the youngest being four years of age. The funeral took place on Wednesday at Kirkby, the Rev. G. Postlethwaite being the officiating clergyman. The funeral cortege consisted of 25 mourning coaches and private carriages, the bearers being Messrs. R. Sharp, R. Lyon, T. Myers, John Cheatle, D. Fryears, F. Brown, and H. Burrows, all foremen in the employ of the deceased, and all of whom had been in his service for about a quarter of a century. Amongst the mourners present we noticed: - Mr. and Mrs. James Hunter, and Tom Hunter, Mr. and Mrs. Councillor Hunter, Mr. and Mrs. W. Ormerod, Mr. and Mrs. R. Shaw, Mr. and Mrs. Coulton Hunter, Mrs. Garland, Mr. and Mrs. H. Warren, Mr. P. K. Dobson and the Misses Dobson, Mr. Joseph Coulton, Mr. George Coulton and Miss Nancy Coulton, Kirkby; and Messrs. H. F. Wright, Thomas Rainford, S. Westwood, E. Hinks, T. Taylor, J. Pennington, F. W. Beucher (?), J. Hankinson, R. Kinnish, F. Worrall, J. R. Patterson, Councillor Steele, E. J. Morgan, J. Holmes, R. Addison, J. Robinson, W. Leech, E. Valient, Alderman Townson, J. Todd, Capt. Stoker, Councillor Ormandy, W. Boaden, Councillor Atkinson, Councillor Ainsworth, J. Smith, E. Nelson, R. Mason, J. Horn, T. Edge, R. Addison, W. S. Whitworth, Johnson, Coutts, Boucher, Hankinson, Lawrence, Bleasdale, Lakin, Richardson, Robinson, Berry, Dixon, Pennington, Troughton, Brownrigg, Morphet, Pickthall, Mc.Carthy (sic), Walmsley, Coward, Harrison, Charnley, Postlethwaite, Mc.Intosh (sic), Hodgson, Dobson, Kneen, and a number of old employees and farmers from the surrounding neighbourhood.

At a special meeting of the Royal Antedeluvian Order of Buffaloes held last night votes of sympathy were passed to Lady Cavendish and the Devonshire family. Why this is attached to the account of Thomas Hunter’s funeral is a mystery, and probably an error. It is a reference to the killing of Lord Frederick Cavendish in Phoenix Park, Dublin, on the same day as Hunter’s death.