Henry Ambrose Hunt was born on 7 February 1866 in London. He was educated at Dartford Grammar School, and in 1884 entered the Meteorological Service of New South Wales at the Sydney Observatory, advancing to acting head of the service in 1904. He wrote several notable papers on aspects of the climate and weather of New South Wales, and in 1913, co-authored the first text-book on Australian meteorology, Climate and Weather of Australia, along with Thomas Griffith Taylor and Edwin Thomas Quayle. In 1907, he became the first Commonwealth meteorologist when he took charge of the new Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, a post he held until his retirement in 1931. He died on 7 February 1946.
From the guide to the Henry Hunt collection, 1914, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)