Robert Gunter

File:Robert Gunter (portrait).jpg

Sir Robert Gunter, 1st Baronet (2 November 1831 – 17 September 1905) was a British Army officer, property developer and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1905.

Biography

Gunter was the son of Robert Gunter of Earl's Court, London and his wife Fanny Thompson, daughter of E. Thompson of Durham. His grandfather James Gunter was a confectioner of Gunter's Tea Shop whose purchases led to the development of some 60 acres of land in West London. Gunter was educated at Rugby School and joined the 4th Dragoon Guards. He served in the Crimean War and became captain.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/debrettshouseo1886londuoft|title=Debrett's House of Commons|date=24 April 1867|publisher=London Dean|via=Internet Archive}} After the death of their father in 1852 Gunter and his brother James developed the Redcliffe Estate area, giving their name not just to "Gunter Grove", but to many other streets in the area.{{Cite web |url=http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/localhistory_littlechelsea.htm |title=Finborough Theatre |date=5 January 2009 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105222144/http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/localhistory_littlechelsea.htm |archive-date=5 January 2009 |url-status=dead}} He settled in Yorkshire at Wetherby Grange in Collingham, near Knaresborough. He was a J.P. for the West Riding of Yorkshire, and Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 3rd Battalion Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment).

Gunter was elected was Member of Parliament (MP) for Knaresborough in the West Riding of Yorkshire at a by-election in 1884 following the death of the sitting MP Thomas Collins. The Knaresborough constituency was abolished in the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 . In the 1885 general election, Gunter was elected MP for the new Barkston Ash constituency.{{Rayment-hc|b|1|date=March 2012}} He represented the constituency until his death in 1905 at the age of 73.

He was granted the dignity of a baronet 18 April 1901, of Wetherby Grange, in the parish of Collingham, in the county of Yorkshire.{{London Gazette |issue=27307 |date=23 April 1901 |page=2776}}

Gunter married Jane Marguerite Benyon, daughter of Thomas Benyon of Gledhow Hall, Yorkshire in 1862. A street in Chelsea called "Edith Grove" is named after their daughter, Edith, who died of scarlet fever aged eight.