Sir George Ruthven Le Hunte (20 August 1852 – 29 January 1925) was a British politician. He served as Governor of South Australia soon after the Federation of Australia, from 1 July 1903 until 18 February 1909.
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Life
He was born in Porthgain, Pembrokeshire, Wales, the son of George and Mary Le Hunte. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Le Hunte served as President of Dominica (1887–94), secretary of Barbados (1894–97) and Mauritius (1897); and Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea (1899–1903). He was Governor of South Australia from 1903–08/9, and then Governor of Trinidad and Tobago from 1908 to 1915, retiring in 1916.
As South Australian Governor, Le Hunte became the first patron of the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia when it was formed in 1903. The District Council of Le Hunte in the north of Eyre Peninsula was named after him before it was changed to Wudinna District Council in 2008.
Family
George Le Hunte married Caroline Rachel Clowes (c. 1854 – 18 May 1939) on 14 February 1884; she was a cousin of Evelyn May Clowes. They had two children:
John Le Hunte (11 August 1886 – ) married Vera Spurgin, daughter of John Henry Spurgin, on 12 August 1913. While there were reports of his being killed in action early in World War I, he was a prisoner of war; during World War II he worked in the Air Ministry.
Editha Rachel Le Hunte (c. October 1892 – ) married Godfrey Barton Pease (15 May 1887 – ) on 5 October 1912. Details of his death in WWI have also been hard to find. Other reports indicate they both survived to 1919 at least.
Lt.-Col. Godfrey Philip Desmond Pease (19 September 1913 – 8 March 2007)
Ann Pease ( – ) married Lt.-Col. William Eliott Lockhart