29 April 1844
89 Paterson Street Launceston Tasmania Australia
1. Edward Hugh Fitzgerald; 2. William Holman Hunt
1. Edward Augustine Lorenzo 2. Lyla Blanche, Edith Holman, William Mervyn, Arthur Erskine, Leslie Dean, Charles Willingham, Bertha Florence, Cyril Vivian, Herbert Clive & Beatrice May
Mrs Emma Sarah Charlotte Hunt was born in Launceston on 29 Apr 1844 to William Matthew Dean (1800-1892), a butcher, and his second wife Emma Blanchard Houghton who were married in 1841. Emma was the second of ten children of this union; he had six children from his first marriage. Emma was christened at Christ Church, Longford, as Emma Charlotte Sarah Hunt, but it seems preferred to sign herself as Emma Sarah Charlotte.
On 4 Jun 1862 at the age of 18 Emma married Edward Hugh Fitzgerald, a clerk, at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Launceston and had a son Edward Augustine Lorenzo, born at Emerald, Victoria 27 January 1863. Edward Fitzgerald died in Emerald on 19 June 1863 from an opiate overdose. The Coroner's inquest found he was using opiates as a way of treating his asthma.
Emma married William Holman Hunt at Chalmers Free Church on 6 Jan 1867. William was christened William Henry Hunt but chose to use the second name Holman instead. William had a successful career in the Public Service, progressing from a junior clerk at the Launceston Post Office to the collector of taxes, and shortly before his death was appointed as Commissioner of Police. The Hunts had eleven children between 1868 and 1890: Lyla Blanche (1868-1942), Edith Holman (1870-1941), unnamed male (1872-1872), William Mervyn (1874-1882), Arthur Erskine (1876-1950), Leslie Dean (1878-1882), Charles Willingham (1880-1957), Bertha Florence (1882-1967), Cyril Vivian (1884-1966), Herbert Clive (1888-1970) and Beatrice May (1890-1890). All were born in Launceston. William Mervyn and Leslie Dean both died in Jun 1882, aged seven and four respectively. Lyla and Arthur also appear in the Family Album. At the time of the Exhibition Emma was living at 89 Paterson St.
Emma's passport to the Tasmanian Exhibition of 1891-92 has survived and is illustrated in the Hunt family history written by her great grandson Peter Muir, Van Diemen's Land Ancestors (1985). Emma was a soprano in the Exhibition choir. She was the founder and sometime treasurer of the Blanket Loan Society formed in 1887 and was involved with the International Council of Women. After William's death in May 1906 Emma moved to Melbourne. She moved back to Launceston four years later, but died about a fortnight after her return, on 5 Oct 1910. See The Examiner 2 Sep 2006, p. 35.
Barbara Valentine Sep 2006, Cheryl Kliem April 2023
