Hawker, Peter ___ 1786-1853 ___ British ___ soldier

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
There is not much information about Hawker available on the internet. As a soldier (with the 14th Light Dragoons) he saw active service in the Peninsular War, but was obliged to retire after being wounded at Talavera, southwest of Madrid, and became a lieutenant-colonel in the North Hampshire militia. He was married twice, the first time in 1811 to Julia Barttelot by whom he had two sons and two daughters (although the elder son died in infancy). He was married for the second time in 1844 to Helen Susan the widow of Captain John Symonds. He was a very keen sportsman, and wrote 'Advice to Young Sportsmen', published in 1814. He also devised technical innovations for certain sporting guns, and, thanks to a great passion for music, invented hand moulds for the piano. Hawker wrote a diary for most of his adult life, and published extracts of them about his exploits as a soldier. After his death, Hawker's family destroyed large parts of the diary. However, extracts, particularly focusing on sporting activities, were published in two volumes. Any extant originals are thought to be in the US. (Thanks to Bill Curtis, of the Crimean War Research Society, who provided some additional information for this potted biography. Curtis has published a biographical note on Hawker in Classic Arms And Militaria - billcurtisra@yahoo.co.uk)
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - A life spent hunting

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1802-1853 ___ military social travel sport nature music France Holland

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
good extracts
some quotes

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
 

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diary of Colonel Peter Hawker
Journal of a Regimental Officer
 

May 2005, May 2006, July 2008, April 2103
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.