George Caunter

George Caunter (1758 — April 1812) governed the Prince of Wales' Island (Penang Island) as Acting Superintendent in 1797 during Superintendent Major Forbes Ross MacDonald's leave of absence and again in 1799 upon the resignation and departure of MacDonald. He served as Acting Superintendent until the arrival of Sir George Alexander William Leith in 1800.

George Caunter was born in 1758" to George Caunter (1716 — 1767) and Esther, of Abham, Staverton, Devonshire in England. His siblings were Esther (b.1756), Priscilla (b.1760) and Richard (b.1763). He married Harriett Georgina Hutchings (b.1769 Devonshire — 1800 Govt. Hse, Penang). Their children were George Henry (b.1791), Harriett Georgina Hutchings (b.1793), (Rev.) John Hobart (1794 — 14 Nov. 1851), (Male child) and Richard MacDonald Caunter (21 Jul. 1794 — 14 Nov.1851).

Caunter, a Second Lieutenant on 13 April 1781 became a Reduced Second Lieutenant (13 April 1781) in the Royal Marines, put on half-pay from 22 March 1792.

Superintendent Major MacDonald passed on in early 1799 during his second absence from Penang. George Caunter was also his locum tenens during MacDonald's first absence, and succeeded Macdonald as Acting Superintendent until the arrival of Lt. Gov. George Leith.

Caunter was a Magistrate of the Island with Philip Manington Jr., apparently a son of the first Philip Mannington who succeeded Capt. Francis Light as his second or assistant.

On 8 September 1797, when Major Macdonald left for Bengal on leave, Philip Mannington Jr. took over as Magistrate.

George Caunter was First Assistant in Sir George Alexander William Leith's Government with Philip Manington as Second Assistant, William Edward Phillips as Secretary, James Hutton as Surgeon and Henry Waring as Assistant Surgeon.

Governor George Alexander William Leith appointed Caunter the Lay Chaplain at Penang in 1800.

George Caunter had been deputed by Lt.-Gov. Leith to negotiate the treaty with Kedah leading to British possession of Province Wellesley in 1800.

Caunter was appointed chaplain around the early part of 1800.

In February 1803, he applied for compensation on account of expenses incurred by him while engaged as Acting Superintendent during the earlier absence, and, later, the death of Superintendent Forbes Ross MacDonald, stating, "It will not, I hope, be deemed improper in me to observe that in taking charge of the Superintendence of this island, I considered it to be my duty to support the credit and dignity of the station to the best of my ability, and therefore continued to keep a public table for strangers, and to give the usual annual public dinners as had been customary with the Superintendents, and I trust the expenses thereby incurred will not be deemed lavish when the times during the above period, considerable fleets and armaments were in the port and some of them for many weeks at a time."

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