Brian OConnell - John Hunt: The Man, the Medievalist, the Connoisseur

This book is dedicated to the people of the rural community around Lough Gur, County Limerick, who, amidst the wartime deprivations of 1940s Ireland, reached out to embrace a pair of strangers, John and Putzel Hunt, who had come by chance to live among them. The warmth with which they accepted the couple, led the new arrivals to stay in Ireland, with all the benefits that were to follow from that decision for their adopted homeland.

There are many individuals to whom I would wish to express my sincere thanks for their help and co-operation in writing the life story of John Hunt.

I should firstly express a particular word of appreciation to Trudy Hunt, and to commend her most admirable determination to ensure that the true story of the kindly father she lost in her teenage years was revealed. Without the benefit of her unstinting co-operation, quietly maintained over many years, and her faith in my ability as an author to carry out the task required, this book may never have been written.

A most special debt of gratitude is owed to Dr Peter Harbison for his recollections of working closely with John Hunt, and giving me the benefit of his knowledge on a wide range of issues. In particular, his guidance on archaeological matters, and advice as an experienced author himself, was quite invaluable and much appreciated, as was his most generous input of time in reading the various drafts of chapters as they emerged.

Several individuals who knew John Hunt personally were happy to share some of their memories of him from decades earlier. I am particularly grateful to the late Sandy Martin and former Sothebys director, Howard Ricketts who provided time for several interviews in this regard. Others who shared personal recollections included: Cian OCarroll, Brendan ORegan, Pa Crowe, Liz Wilson, Maurice Linnell, Sister Regina OBrien, Grace Cantillon, Mary Geary, Joan Duff, Des OMalley, Jim Burke, Jane Williams, John OConnor and David Davison.

Staff members of the following institutions were most helpful in facilitating access to their records and dealing with my queries: The V&A Art Library; The V&A Museum Archives;The British Museum; The British Library; The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; The Courtauld Gallery, London; The Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local History Centre; Watford Central Library; Hertford Library; The Somerset Heritage Centre, Taunton; The Wiener Library, London; Library of Durham Cathedral; The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; The Burrell Museum, Glasgow; Imperial War Museum; The Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge; The National Archives, Kew; Kings School Archives, Canterbury; St. Bartholomews Hospital Archives; The Portman Estate; English Heritage, Newcastle upon Tyne; Royal Institute of British Architects, London; British Film Institute; Stadtarchiv and The Jewish Museum, Worms, Germany; Stadtarchiv, Mannheim; The Swiss Federal Archives, Berne; Limerick City Library, The National Museum of Ireland; The National Library of Ireland; RT Archives; Military Archives, Dublin; Registry of Deeds, Dublin; National Archives of Ireland; The Jewish Museum, Dublin; The National Gallery of Ireland; Boole Library, University College, Cork; The Walters Museum, Baltimore; The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; City of Vancouver Archives; The New York Public Library; Hearst Castle Collections, California. Particular mention should be made of Victoria Reed, Curator for Provenance at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Christine Brennan, Collections Manager, Department of Medieval Art and the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York who were most helpful during extended visits. Pat Wallace, Director of the National Museum of Ireland, made available the Museums files on John Hunt and the Emly Shrine and Naomi ONolan facilitated access on several occasions to the records and images held in the Hunt Museum, Limerick. University of Limerick history graduate, Grainne OBrien, assisted with research on certain Irish archives.

Victoria Dickenson, Harriet Allen, Rosemary Bolster and Richard Hunt, all relations of John Hunt in England, provided extensive genealogical records on the Hunt family as well as some personal recollections. Cian OCarroll, John Quinn, Dr Edward Walsh, Jerry OKeeffe, Dr Joyce OConnor and John Ruddle read parts of the book in draft and provided much invaluable advice and encouragement.

Special appreciation is due to John Ruddle, CEO Shannon Heritage Limited, and Alan English, Editor, The Limerick Leader, for the support of their organisations towards the publication of the life story of someone who made such a significant contribution to the Mid-West region of Ireland.

Michael OBrien of The OBrien Press took a leap of faith in the project and was most supportive of my efforts. Other members of The OBrien Press staff were at all times most helpful in getting the book to publication.

Finally, I should like to thank my wife Phil and my daughters Anna, Jennifer and Stephanie for their forbearance on occasions and their encouragement at all times, and their assistance in reading and editing drafts of the text.

Contents

A Yetholm Shield in the Hunt Museum, Limerick.

T he numbers are dwindling of those who personally knew John/Jack Hunt (1900-1976), and I count myself fortunate to be among them. Brian OConnell, in contrast, never met him, but has brought him back to life in this engaging biography of a man whom I knew to be kind, benign and so willing to share with others his immense store of knowledge on matters medieval. I only had the pleasure of Johns company during the last decade of his life. However, because he was not one to boast of his achievements, Brians book has opened my eyes here to many details that John never told me about, concerning his family background, his earlier career and his wide circle of friends, both within and outside the world of art.

These latter did not include Nazi-sympathisers, and one of Brian OConnells main achievements, although it only occupies a minor part of his text, was to liberate John Hunts good name and reputation from totally unfounded slurs cast upon them in certain quarters in recent years. In contrast, Brian shows how he strove desperately, but, sadly, in vain, to get one particular family of Jews out of Germany in the months preceding World War II. Equally, Brian has disposed of the rumours circulating about John Hunts alleged involvement in spiriting the Emly Shrine out of Ireland to the United States simply by discovering who the real culprits were. From my personal knowledge, I can confirm that such a deed would have been totally contrary to Hunts ideals, for he always insisted that Irelands treasures should remain in the country. He put his money where his mouth was by acquiring important Irish Bronze Age objects in England and repatriating them to Ireland. Many such objects are now displayed in the great Hunt Collection in Limerick, the contents of which John and his wife Gertrude generously gifted to the Hunt Museums Trust to hold on behalf of the people of Ireland.

The Hunts have merited a worthy champion in Brian OConnell. He was given free access to the rather slim collection of family papers by John Hunts daughter, Trudy, and his daughter-in-law, Patricia, whose husband, John Jr, fought so valiantly, during the last few years of his all too short life, to house and manage his fathers collection.

Dr. Peter Harbison