 While not widely known today, he was present at or directly involved in several major incidents during the struggle for Irish independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.Hunter was born in 1883 in the village of Castletownroche, County Cork in Ireland, son of Con Hunter, a baker, and his wife Ellen (nee Hayes) of Glanworth.In 1907, he moved to Dublin to begin his apprenticeship as a draper.