Vice Admiral John Hunter (29 August 1737 – 13 March 1821) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second Governor of New South Wales, serving from 1795 to 1800.

[1][2] As a boy Hunter was sent to live with an uncle in the town of King's Lynn in Norfolk, where, and also at Edinburgh, he received the classical education of the time.

Hunter was sent to the University of Edinburgh, but soon left it to join the navy as a captain's servant to Thomas Knackston on HMS Grampus in May 1754.

[3] Serving aboard Neptune at this time as her first lieutenant was John Jervis, later Earl of St Vincent and First Sea Lord, who became an acquaintance of Hunter.

Hunter spent his time there making charts and plans of parts of the coast and of the Spanish fortifications at Havana, which he sent back to the Admiralty.

[3] Carysfort was nearly lost after running aground on Martyr Reef in the Gulf of Florida in 1771, while being sailed by a pilot, but Hunter's exertions allowed her to be saved with the loss of her masts and guns.

Also serving aboard Foudroyant at this time was Evan Nepean, then the ship's purser, but later a leading civil servant and First Secretary to the Admiralty.

[3] When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Hunter served under Howe for the duration of his time in command, acting virtually as master of the fleet.

[4] A number of the crew returned to Port Jackson aboard the brig HMS Supply, the remainder, including Hunter, waited for nearly a year on the island before being taken off.

"[2] The French Revolutionary Wars having broken out during Hunter's time in England, he went to sea again as a volunteer aboard the 100-gun HMS Queen Charlotte, the flagship of his old patron Lord Howe.

With Arthur Phillip's resignation from the governorship of New South Wales in July 1793, Hunter had applied for the position in October and was appointed governor in January 1794.

During the lieutenant-governorship of Francis Grose, who unmercifully exploited the convicts, a great traffic in alcoholic spirits sprang up, on which there was an enormous profit for the officers concerned.

A stronger man might have sent the officers home under arrest, but had Hunter attempted to do so he likely would have precipitated the rebellion which took place in William Bligh's time.

In spite of Hunter's vehement defence of the charges made against him, he was recalled in a dispatch dated 5 November 1799 from the Duke of Portland, one of the three secretaries of state.

[1] Hunter acknowledged this dispatch on 20 April 1800, and left for England on 28 September 1800, handing over the government to Lieutenant-Governor Philip Gidley King.

A contemporary, midshipman Daniel Southwell described Hunter as "devoid of stiff pride, most accomplished in his profession, and, to sum up all, a worthy man.

As his successor Philip Gidley King said, his conduct was "guided by the most upright intentions", and he was "most shamefully deceived by those on whom he had every reason to depend for assistance, information, and advice."

His service as Governor was ultimately recognised through the grant of an annual pension of £300, approved by then-Prime Minister Henry Addington in October 1802.

Vice-Admiral John Hunter spent his final years in his home town of Leith, living at 6 Cassels Place.