Dr Anthony ‘Tony’ B Hunt (1944-2025)
BLitt MA Oxf, DLitt St And, FBA, FSA
It is with great sadness that the Master and Fellows of St Peter’s College Oxford share news of the death of our Emeritus Fellow, Dr Anthony ‘Tony’ Hunt, on Monday 3 November 2025. Our thoughts are with Tony’s wife, Kate, and their families, friends and loved ones.
Tony was born on the Wirral in 1944. In 1962, he matriculated at Worcester College, University of Oxford, where he read for a BA in Modern Languages. He stayed on at Oxford to complete a BLitt before obtaining a post at the University of St Andrews teaching Anglo-Norman. He later became Reader in French at St Andrews, where he was in due course awarded a DLitt for research conducted whilst a British Academy Research Reader and Visiting Professor of Medieval Studies at Westfield College in London. In 1990, Tony returned to Oxford to take up a Faculty Lectureship and Tutorial Fellowship at St Peter’s College.
Tony made a substantial contribution to medieval French and Anglo-Norman scholarship, publishing 24 volumes and 150 articles containing previously unpublished medieval texts. He was Honorary Treasurer and, later, President, of the Anglo-Norman Text Society. He was recognised with multiple honours for his academic reputation and expertise in the use of French in medieval England, medieval medicine and editing Old French texts. He became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1986 and in 1999 was elected both a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and a Fellow of the British Academy. In 2008, he was appointed Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Government.
In addition to his notable teaching and research impact at St Peter’s College, Tony served for a period as Vice-Master of the College. He demonstrated care for the entire College, showing equal concern and interest in the College’s place in the Norrington Table, staff wellbeing and the overall state of the College’s buildings and offices. He retired from his University post in 2009 but continued in his Tutorial Fellowship until 2011, after which he was elected Emeritus Fellow of St Peter’s College. For several more years after his retirement, Tony could be seen in the Hall for breakfast and lunch on most weekdays, as he continued to spend his mornings at the Taylorian pursuing his life’s work of study and scholarship.
A memorial to honour Tony’s life and contribution to St Peter’s will take place in College, the details of which will be announced soon. In the meantime, alumni and former colleagues are welcome to use this form to share any memories or well wishes. Submissions will be monitored and shared below as appropriate (form closes Friday 2 January 2026), but due to the Winter Vacation, some replies may not be posted until 8 January.
College will be closed to the public over the Winter Vacation. Learn more here.