Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hawker, Peter
HAWKER, PETER (1786–1853), soldier and sporting writer, born 24 Dec. 1786, was son of Colonel Peter Ryves Hawker (d. 1790) of Longparish, Hampshire, by Mary Wilson Yonge, who was of an Irish family. Like his father and many of his ancestors Hawker entered the army, his commission as cornet in the 1st royal dragoons dating from 1801. In 1803 he joined the 14th light dragoons, in which regiment he became captain the year following, and served with it in the Peninsular war. Being badly wounded at Talavera, he retired from active service in 1813, but by the recommendation of the Duke of Clarence he was made major (1815), and then lieutenant-colonel (1821) of the North Hampshire Militia. Hawker, a man of very varied ability, was a good musician as well as a keen sportsman. He composed much music, and in 1820 patented an improvement in the construction of the pianoforte. At the Exhibition of 1851 some alterations in firearms which Hawker devised attracted attention, and he hoped in vain that they would be adopted by the war office. He died on 7 Aug. 1853. An engraving of a bust of Hawker is in his ‘Instructions to Young Sportsmen’ (11th ed.)
He was twice married, and by his first wife, Julia, daughter of Hooker Bartellot, whom he married in 1811, he had a son, Peter William Lanoe Hawker, sometime a lieutenant in the 74th regiment, and two daughters.
Hawker's works comprise: 1. ‘Journal of a Regimental Officer during the recent Campaign in Portugal and Spain,’ London, 1810, 8vo. 2. ‘Instructions to Young Sportsmen in all that relates to Guns and Shooting,’ London, 1814, 8vo. This work, by which Hawker became widely known, passed through many editions, and was amended and added to from time to time; the eleventh edition is dated 1859. 3. ‘Abridgment of the New Game Laws, with Observations and Suggestions for their Improvement. Being an Appendix to the sixth edition of “Instructions to Young Sportsmen,”’ London, 1851, 8vo. 4. ‘Instructions for best position on Pianoforte,’ London, 4to.
[Gent. Mag. 1853, pt. ii. p. 313; Army Lists, 1802–14; Burke's Hist. of the Commoners, iii. 50; Woodcroft's Alphabetical List of Patentees; Brit. Mus. Cat.; London Cat.]