Hunt, Thornton Leigh (1810-1873)

Thornton Leigh Hunt was a journalist and editor, as well as a very close friend of George Henry Lewes, close enough that Lewes named his second child after him. In 1850, the two men co-founded a weekly newspaper, the Leader, to which George Eliot later contributed articles, often as substitutes for ones Lewes was slated to write. Lewes's wife Agnes had a prolonged affair with Thornton Hunt, which resulted in four children. Lewes had full knowledge of the affair with Hunt, who was also married; in fact, Lewes gave the children his name and even registered two of Hunt's children as his own, which effectively condoned the affair. George and Agnes Lewes separated but never sought a divorce. Though Lewes and Hunt had disagreed about which of them should support Agnes and the children, Lewes continued to send them money before and after Hunt's death in 1873.