The Society is named after Joseph Hunter (1783-1861) who is, perhaps, best known locally for his publications Hallamshire: The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York (1819) and the two volumes of South Yorkshire: a History of the Deanery of Doncaster (1828 & 1831). They form indispensable sources of reference for historians of the county and further afield, and are still widely used.
Joseph was born on 6 February 1783 in Sheffield, the son of a cutler. There is a plaque on the wall of Sheffield Town Hall on Surrey Street recording the place of his birth. Having lost his mother as a young boy, he was raised by the Rev Joseph Evans and his wife Susannah at Upper Chapel on Norfolk Street, where his interest in reading and history began. Having been educated at Attercliffe and later studying theology at Manchester College in York, Joseph became a Unitarian Minister at Trim Street in Bath in 1809. He never again lived in South Yorkshire, though often returned in the course of his researches into the area and maintained friendships in the city through correspondence. In Bath he married Mary Hayward in 1815 and they had six children - two girls and four boys.
His early interest in antiquarian studies covered a wide field and this interest became his professional career when, in 1833, he was appointed a Sub-Commissioner of the Records Commission and moved to London, living in Torrington Square in Bloomsbury. In 1838 he became an Assistant Keeper of the Public Records and is particularly remembered for his work in classifying the Exchequer records. He was Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries and wrote an incredible number of papers on a wide range of topics from Shakespearean plots to the Pilgrim Fathers.
He died on 9 May 1861 in London and is buried in a place he selected at St Mary's, Ecclesfield, where some of his ancestors had been interred, seeing it as his 'nate solum'. Society volunteers help to keep his grave neat and tidy.