Peter Hawker
Colonel Peter Hawker, (1786-1853) was a celebrated diarist, author and sportsman who was accounted one of the "Great Shots" of the 19th Century. His sporting exploits were considered worthy of report in The Times.[1][2][3] Born in London of Colonel Peter Ryves Hawker and Mary Wilson Hawker (Née Yonge) he was educated at Eton and then entered military service by purchasing a commission in 1801 as a Cornet (military rank) in the First Royal Dragoons; claiming, in his diary "I was a Captain of Dragoons soon after I was seventeen years old. but paid dearer for it than anyone in the service."[4]
Hawker served with the 14th Light Dragoons under the Duke of Wellington seeing action in the Peninsular War. He lead his squadron during the battle of Duoro during which action the regiment earned the word "Duoro" for its colours. He received a serious thigh wound at the battle of Talavera and was subsequently invalided home and discharged as unfit with an annual pension of £100.00. Despite his injuries, and consequent ill health, he took an active commission in 1815 as major of the North Hampshire Militia, was made its lieutenant-colonel in 1821 and later became deputy lieutenant for his county.
Peter Hawker is best known today for his published works on the sports of shooting and fishing. Hawker published his “Advice to Young Sportsmen” in 1814, a popular work having nine imprints in his lifetime and a last paper print in 1975. Forty years after Hawker's death an Australian book reviewer states that "Probably no book on the subject of sport ever enjoyed so wide or so long sustained a popularity as the "Instructions to Young Sportsmen".[5] Hawker kept a regular diary (published in abridged form) which contains observations of pre and post-Napoleon Europe, wildfowling, game-bird shooting and details of hunting techniques and conditions prevalent in the late 18th and early 19th Century.
Hawker also published an (originally anonymous) memoir on the Peninsula War.[6]
Hawker's attitude to guns and shooting has been criticised from a modern perspective, e.g. in The Economist (with respect to the teaching of children to shoot)[7], The Times(as being overly bloodthirsty) [8] and he was was not above personal criticism even by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey who even describes Hawker as "something of an egotist" (albeit a "good natured" one) in his introduction to the 1893 edition Hawker's diary.
Peter Hawker was an keen amateur musician, studying the piano under Henri Bertini and he regularly played the organ at his local church.[9] Hawker's interest in music was not limited to playing however, he devised and patented a device to assist the teaching of the piano; namely his “hand moulds”.[10]
Hawker’s inventiveness went beyond musical matters, he was active in the development of “detonating” firearms (i.e. the percussion lock), punt gunning and also claims (in his diary) to have invented a “smokeless chimney”. Hawker was a firm friend of the then and now celebrated gunsmith Joe Manton; Hawker was not just a user of Manton’s guns he took an active interest in their design and participated in the manufacture of his own commissions.
Hawker was married twice, firstly in 1811 to Julia the only daughter of Major Hooker Barttelot. Following the death of Julia in 1844 Hawker married Helen Susan, widow of Captain John Symonds, R.N,and daughter of Major Chatterton.
Colonel Hawker had two sons and two daughters by his first marriage. Hawker's granddaughter Mary Elizabeth Hawker was a famous late Victorian authoress who wrote under the pseudonym of Lanoe Falconer.
References
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Kings Of The Trigger - Biographical Sketches Of Four Famous Sportsmen: The Rev. W.B. Daniel, Colonel Peter Hawker, Joe Manton and Captain Horatio Ross, by Thormanby, Published 1901, London
- ^ The Times, Tuesday, Sep 18, 1827; pg. 3; Issue 13387; col D
- ^ The diary of Colonel Peter Hawker, (Volume I) 1802-1853
- ^ Oakleigh Leader (North Brighton, Vic. : 1888 - 1902) Saturday 16 December 1893
- ^ Journal of a regimental officer during the recent campaign in Portugal and Spain under Lord Viscount Wellington, Colonel Peter Hawker, Reprinted 1910.
- ^ http://www.economist.com/node/457168
- ^ "(Why Shoot Coot?)...to regard them as quarry seems an outmoded idea, belonging more properly to the era of Peter Hawker and his contemporaries of 150 years ago who's principle of "If it moves, shoot it" has happily long died out." The Times, Saturday, Feb 05, 1966; pg. 11; Issue 56548; col C
- ^ The Times, Monday, Nov 03, 1958; pg. 12; Issue 54298; col C
- ^ Specification of the Patent granted to Peter Hawker, of Long-Parish House, near Andover, in the County of. Hants, Major in the Army; for a Machine, Instrument, or Apparatus to assist in the Attainment of proper Performance on the Piano-Forte, or other keyed Instruments. Dated November 1, 1820
External links
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Paywall) [1]
- The diary of Colonel Peter Hawker, (Volume I) 1802-1853 [2]
- The Diary of Colonel Peter Hawker (Volume II) 1802-1853 [3]
- Journal of a regimental officer during the recent campaign in Portugal and Spain under Lord Viscount Wellington, Colonel Peter Hawker, 1910.[4]
- Instructions to young sportsmen in all that relates to guns and shooting, Colonel Peter Hawker, 1910.[5]
- Specification of the Patent granted to Peter Hawker, of Long-Parish House, near Andover, in the County of. Hants, Major in the Army; for a Machine, Instrument, or Apparatus to assist in the Attainment of proper Performance on the Piano-Forte, or other keyed Instruments. Dated November 1, 1820 Page 266.[6]
- Oakleigh Leader (North Brighton, Vic. : 1888 - 1902) [7]