John le Hunt

John Hunt, le Hunt, Hunter or Hunter del Nash (died after 1351) was an English-born judge who served briefly as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was the ancestor of the prominent Longueville family of Wolverton (which is now part of Milton Keynes).

Career

He was born in Buckinghamshire, son of Nicholas le Hunt of Fenny Stratford. The Nicholas le Hunt of Fenny Stratford who, jointly with his wife Agnes, exercised the right of advowson to present a priest to the living of Walton in 1348, was probably his brother. John himself owned property in Walton, which passed to his descendants, the Longueviĺles or Longvilles.

He accompanied the Justiciar of Ireland, Sir Raoul or Ralph d'Ufford, to Ireland in 1344 and became a justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). An order in the Close Rolls the same year directs payment to him of £10, in part payment of his salary, which was the then standard £40 per annum.

Family

St. Martin's Church, Fenny Stratford. John le Hunt was born in the village. He married Margaret (or Margery) de Wolverton, daughter and eventual co-heiress of Sir John de Wolverton junior of Wolverton and his second wife Joan. John was probably a son or brother of Sir George de Longueville, "chevalier", who was murdered in 1357. The Crown was sufficiently concerned about the killing to set up a judicial commission of inquiry, headed by William de Notton, who was himself to be Lord Chief Justice of Ireland from 1361 to about 1365, but its outcome is unclear. John and Joan were the grandparents of George Longville (c.1386-1458), MP for Buckinghamshire.

After Hunt's death, his widow remarried three times: firstly to Roger de Louth, then to Richard Imworth, and finally to John Howes; but she is not known to have had any further children by her later husbands.