CHRISTOPHER HUNTER: (1675-1757), physician and antiquary, born in July 1675, was the only son of Thomas Hunter, of Medonsley, Durham, by his second wife, Margaret Readshaw (Surtees, Durham, ii. 289). He was educated at the free grammar school of Kepyr in Houghton-le-Spring, Durham. In 1692 he was admitted pensioner of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and became a favourite pupil of Thomas Baker (1656-1740) (q.v.), whose sister Margaret was the wife of John Hunter, Christopher’s eldest brother. From this connection he derived a taste for antiquarian pursuits. He took the degree of bachelor of medicine in 1698, and soon afterwards settled in practice at Stockton-on-Tees. He had a license, dated 7 October 1701, from Dr. John Brookbank, spiritual chancellor of Durham, to practice physic throughout the diocese of Durham. On 1 Aug. 1702, he married, at Durham Abbey, Elizabeth, one of the two daughters and coheiress of John Elrington of Espersheales in the parish of Bywell, Northumberland. A few years later he removed from Stockton to Durham, a place much more congenial to his social and antiquarian tastes. In the Spring of 1757 Hunter retired from Durham to his wife’s estate at Untbank in the parish of Shotley, Northumberland, where he died on 12 July of that year.
